Botched op surgeon is allowed to work again

A panel from the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service yesterday decided that Nayef El-Barghouty will be allowed to remain a registered practitioner once his 16-month suspension finishes on December 29 this year.

However, this will be subject to 21 strict conditions, which include no undertaking of thyroid surgery and four months of close supervision.

The decision was made at the fitness to practise hearing yesterday.

Chair of the panel, Dr Vicki Harris, said: “[The panel] regards lying to a coroner as an extremely serious incident of dishonesty.

“The panel remains concerned that Mr El-Barghouty has not yet fully accepted and adopted the principle that honesty is a fundamental tenet of the medical profession.”

The panel also had concerns over the fact that Mr El-Barghouty’s mentor had described him as feeling ‘bitter’ about the panel’s determination on impairment.

The Egypt-trained vascular and general surgeon operated on an aneurysm in the left leg of grandfather Wilfrid Taylor, 82, from Scarborough, but mistakenly operated in the wrong area.

Within hours, he carried out a second corrective operation that led to torrential bleeding, causing the retired engineer’s death.

Mr El-Barghouty also botched a routine operation to remove the thyroid gland of mother-of-two Joanne Roche.

It was carried out in 90 minutes instead of the two to three hours expected and he severely damaged nerves linked to her vocal cords.

Mrs Roche was left barely able to speak and the damage led to blockages in her airway.

Six months later she had to undergo a complete tracheostomy to fit a tube through her neck and into her windpipe to allow her to breathe properly.