A MUM lives in “constant agony” after she was left permanently disabled and unable to have sex following a botched back operation.
Mo Bell, 57, from Dundee, Scotland, has mobility issues, problems going to the toilet, and can no longer have sex with her husband Martin due to her pain and suffering.
Alan Richardson/Media ScotlandMo Bell, seen here with her husband Martin, has been left permanently disabled following the botched operation on her back[/caption]
Alan Richardson/Media ScotlandMo wants the Scottish Government to get underway with the public inquiry[/caption]
The mum is just one of dozens of people operated on by Sam Eljamel who was head of neurosurgery at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee until December 2013, when he was suspended.
He harmed dozens of patients at NHS Tayside and a public inquiry is now due to be held, the Scottish government has confirmed.
Mo told how her troubles at Professor Eljamel’s hands began when he performed a discectomy on her lower back in 2008.
She said: “I had been having a little niggle in my back for a while. At the start of January 2008, I woke up and had a pain in my legs.
“As the day went on, I wasn’t able to go to the toilet.
“I went to out of hours. I didn’t know I wasn’t able to feel one of my feet until the nurse put a pin in it. She sent me straight up to neurology that night.
“That night, Eljamel came in and explained what he was going to do the next morning, that my disc had slipped and it was leaning on my nerves.”
Mo had no idea that the operation would end up causing more problems than it solved.
She added: “The next morning, he gave me the operation. I came round, he got me out of bed straight away, which I thought was a bit funny.
“He then had me up getting physio and the next day he sent me home. I went in on January 2 and was out by January 4.
“But when I went home, I still wasn’t able to go to the toilet either way. He also declined to tell me what he had done had caused cauda equina syndrome (CES) [a condition that affects the spine].”
But, even though CES was in her medical notes following her operation, Mo didn’t learn she had it until three or four years later when she went in for an unrelated minor operation.
Mo said: “The nurses told me I had it, it was on my medical records. After the operation, there was a lot of to-ing and fro-ing back to the hospital because I was still not able to go to the toilet.
“Eljamel wouldn’t have me back in neurology, so I had to go to a general ward and they didn’t know what was going on because they didn’t have the notes.
“I was on that ward for about a week and they didn’t know what was happening either.
“It took years to get it all sorted out. But now I know he damaged the nerves when he was removing the disc. I am now numb down my right-hand side. I struggle to walk.
“What he did to me left me disabled but I only recently realised, after reading about other cases in the papers and getting my notes, that it was down to his negligence. He never told me. He never told anyone.”
Mo said she didn’t complain when she found out because she was dealing with serious family health issues at the time.
But she said: “When things started appearing in the papers, it brought it all back. I have never received an apology.
“I think it is absolutely terrible he was allowed to operate for so long. It was as if he was God up there. Everybody thought he was great. My operation was in 2008 but how many people came after me?”
Mo, a former civil servant, is no longer working. She returned to her job following her operation but after reducing her hours more and more to help her keep her career alive, she had to accept medical retirement.
Mo added: “I am really, really, really angry. It is not just my mobility, my inability to go to the toilet and ending my career, there are personal things too – I can’t have sex with my husband, it is too sore.
“Even though I am numb, I get pain in some situations, like a shooting pain. I never went on holiday for years because of the pain and it is all because of him. It is really, really important this inquiry gets started next year.
“The Scottish Government has a track record of saying things and not doing things but it is so important we get answers.”
Jules Rose, 55, from Kinross, Perthshire, is another of Eljamel’s patients and has campaigned to bring his deeds to light.
It is thanks to her and other campaigners that the Scottish Government agreed to a public inquiry.
Jules should have had a brain tumour removed by Eljamel but, instead, the disgraced surgeon removed a tear duct and lied that he had removed 99 per cent of her tumour. He had to do a second operation to remove the entire tumour.
Jules said: “We will be heading into a fifth month since the inquiry was announced soon. We are already running out of patience. The chair must be appointed and, as well as the public inquiry, we are still waiting for word on the one-to-one patient reviews.
“It is imperative that the government rapidly appoints the chairman. A chair was supposed to be appointed in a timely fashion.
“We need to get the ball rolling in order to have the redress for patients who desperately need it. Enough is enough.”
Lawyer Elizabeth Rose, founder of LM Medilaw, represents about 120 of Eljamel’s former patients, some of whom are in very poor health and anxious to see progress on the inquiry.
Ms Rose said: “Our clients have been campaigning tirelessly for years and deserve to know the anticipated time frame for its commencement.
“There are understandably feelings of uncertainty around the process and meaningful engagement with the patients will allow for transparency, and ensure patient’s voices are truly being listened to.”
The Scottish Government said the process to appoint a chair for the public inquiry is “ongoing”.
A spokeswoman said: “Once appointed, the terms of reference will be developed and further details will be shared once these are agreed.
“We are now at the stage where discussions have taken place and are underway with candidates identified by the Lord President.
“Discussions are also under way to take forward the independent clinical review of individual cases of former patients of Sam Eljamel for those former patients who would like to participate.”
Media ScotlandJules Rose is another of Eljamel’s patients[/caption]
Media ScotlandJules, who campaigned tirelessly to get the inquiry says it is now time to get the ball rolling and to get answers[/caption]