Surgeon’s victim to resume her passion for swimming

Before the operation on in January 2008, Jo Roche swam five times a week, but she now breathes through a tube in her neck and had to learn to speak again after her vocal cord nerves were damaged during a routine operation to remove her thyroid gland.

Egypt-trained vascular and general surgeon Nayef El-Barghouty carried out the procedure at Scarborough Hospital in 90 minutes instead of the two to three hours expected.

A year later, the surgeon, who has since been sacked, was due to repair an aneurysm in the left leg of 82-year-old Wilfrid Taylor, but he mistakenly operated in the wrong area and carried out a second corrective operation that led to torrential bleeding, causing his death.

Now Ms Roche, a mother-of-two from Bridlington, plans to use some of the compensation she received to pay for swimming lessons where she will be taught how to use special breathing apparatus.

She said: “I’ve really missed swimming, particularly with my children, and it’s been on my mind to try to start again. It’s a great way to keep fit and I’m confident I should be able to get the hang of the swimming device.”

Her lawyer Simon Wilson said: “I am very pleased that Jo is now planning to resume swimming again and that, along with her guts and determination, the compensation she’s received is helping her to get her life back to as near as possible to how it was before her injury.”