Key Takeaway:
- A medical tribunal struck off Dr. Yasser Adly Abdel Rahman after finding serious errors in a 2020 emergency bowel surgery.
- The botched operation left the patient in a life-threatening condition until another surgeon performed corrective surgery.
- The tribunal also cited Rahman’s breach of practice restrictions, ruling his misconduct was incompatible with continued medical registration.
A medical tribunal has struck off NHS locum surgeon Dr. Yasser Adly Abdel Rahman — a Surgeon Struck Off ruling — after finding he performed a critically flawed emergency bowel operation in 2020 that left a patient in life-threatening condition and required corrective surgery to save his life. The case underscores the value of checking a doctor’s malpractice history before treatment.
The Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service ruled that Rahman’s misconduct was incompatible with continued registration after concluding he made severe surgical errors during an emergency bowel procedure at Royal Oldham Hospital on Aug. 25, 2020.
The tribunal heard that Rahman incorrectly connected the patient’s organs, creating what was described as a circular “closed loop.” Instead of allowing bowel contents to pass normally, the procedure redirected material leaving the stomach back into the stomach.
The patient suffered uncontrollable pain following the operation and could have died if another surgeon had not identified the error and performed corrective surgery, according to evidence presented during the hearing.
A former consultant general and colorectal surgeon, serving as an expert witness for the General Medical Council, described the procedure as “not known to man” and said the mistake was “as bad as it gets.” The expert also testified that the surgical outcome was “not compatible with life.”
The tribunal found Rahman failed to recognize that anything had gone wrong after the operation despite concerns raised by the patient’s parents and other medical professionals. This finding was central to the Surgeon Struck Off decision.
Tribunal details serious surgical failures
Rahman, who qualified from Ain Shams University in Cairo, Egypt, in 1993, did not attend the hearing and was not represented by a lawyer.
According to the tribunal, he denied responsibility for the incident and claimed he had been made a “scapegoat” during what he described as a “witch hunt” following the surgery.
The misconduct panel examined both the operation itself and Rahman’s postoperative care of the patient. It concluded that his actions fell significantly below expected professional standards.
The tribunal determined that the patient’s survival depended on prompt intervention by another surgeon who corrected the surgical error.
Breach of practice restrictions worsens case
The tribunal also considered Rahman’s conduct after the operation. In July 2021, the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service imposed restrictions on his medical practice while the case remained under review.
However, the panel found Rahman breached those conditions by applying for and obtaining a locum position at Affidea Express Care Clinic in Ireland in February 2022.
The tribunal described that breach as an aggravating factor alongside what it called significant failures in surgery and postoperative care.
In its ruling issued last month, the panel concluded that Rahman’s misconduct was “fundamentally incompatible with continued registration.” It ordered that his name be erased from the medical register, preventing him from practising as a doctor.
The decision marks the conclusion of disciplinary proceedings arising from the 2020 operation at Royal Oldham Hospital, closing the Surgeon Struck Off case under the fitness-to-practise framework overseen by the General Medical Council.
