Medical negligence case study: Surinder Venables

A doctor who mistakenly removed part of a patient’s bowel after confusing it with abnormal tissue had a history of negligence that had gone unreported by the hospital’s trust.
 
Pathologist Ian Calder gave the patient’s cause of death as a gastric haemorrhage, multiple organ failure and inflammation of the abdomen due to perforation of the uterus.
 
Not only did Dr Nikolaos Papanikolaou fail to recognize an organ, he also punctured the patient’s uterus. Forty nine year old Surinder Venables died from cardiac arrest one month after her severely botched procedure. Her family was horrified to learn that Dr Papanikolaou had previously left swabs in his patients, failed to recognize when emergency surgical procedures were necessary, and was accused of causing the stillbirth of an infant.
 
None of Dr Papanikolaou’s errors had been reported to the General Medical Council (GMC). The Council was not aware of any complaints against the doctor until a patient’s father complained to them in 2010. This started an inquiry which found that Dr Papanikolaou was an extremely poor record keeper, mismanaged multiple decisions, and was overall careless.
 
After the inquiry, the GMC is considering taking Dr Papanikolaou off of the registrar.
 
Some have called the NHS negligent because of its reporting policies concerning doctors. "His practices should have been looked into deeply and if there was any doubt whatsoever that he should have been reported to the General Medical Council,” said David Marjara, Ms Venables brother.
 
"These people should be investigated properly by the hospital and the NHS and then they should not be allowed to work."
 
Ms Venables left behind a partner and two daughters. The family is pursuing a negligence claim for compensation against the trust. However, they are choosing to remember the positives about their lost love one.  Ms Venables partner, Alan Chapman, had this to say about her: “She was always helping others, always with a smile, and once you met her you felt like you had known her for ages.”

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