Heart Surgeon's Failures Contributed To Multiple Deaths

Seven group person died pursuing aggregate failures by a bosom surgeon who continues to activity for nan NHS, nan BBC has learned.

An NHS investigation recovered problems successful Karen Booth's cases included objective errors, carrying retired operations she wasn't skilled aliases knowledgeable capable to execute and not calling for thief erstwhile she should have.

Serious concerns astir Ms Booth's capacity astatine nan Freeman Hospital successful Newcastle were first raised by her colleagues successful 2018 - but nan infirmary did not motorboat an investigation until 2021. Ms Booth is presently moving arsenic a mentor to different surgeons astatine nan Freeman, which plans to let her to resume her surgical profession shortly.

Karen Booth "should ne'er [again] practise arsenic a surgeon", said nan family of 1 man who died aft being operated connected by her.

The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs nan Freeman, did not respond to astir of nan questions put to it by nan BBC, including why it thought it due to fto Ms Booth resume her surgical career.

The spot did nevertheless constituent to a problematic moving civilization successful nan cardiac portion astatine nan clip of nan failures, while soul reports person criticised mediocre governance procedures and a reluctance from elder unit to return work complete information concerns.

Ms Booth, a bosom and transplant surgeon, did not respond to immoderate of nan BBC's questions. The infirmary told nan BBC that nan General Medical Council (GMC), nan UK's regulator for doctors, is investigating Ms Booth but location are presently nary restrictions connected her practice.

Concerns complete Karen Booth's grounds person been laid bare done emails and documents sent by her surgical colleagues - seen by nan BBC - arsenic good arsenic reports nan Freeman commissioned and nan transcripts of meetings that elder clinicians from nan infirmary attended. All nan accusation was passed to nan BBC by families impacted by operations performed by Ms Booth.

Ian Philip, a building worker from Blyth, Northumberland, died aft an cognition led by Karen Booth successful March 2021 to effort to repair problems pinch his bosom valves.

Ms Booth had planned to transportation retired a analyzable type of bosom cognition called an Ozaki procedure, that very fewer surgeons successful nan UK are skilled capable to perform.

The room was approved by nan infirmary solely for usage successful children and young adults, nan BBC understands, though Ms Booth had support to connection nan process for patients pinch aortic valve disease.

The process had not been discussed among nan surgical squad anterior to nan operation, according to nan hospital's communications pinch nan family.

Once successful surgery, Ms Booth and her workfellow discovered a complication and decided against utilizing nan Ozaki procedure, alternatively choosing to repair a tear. A superior incident study recovered that this was "good practice" successful nan circumstances.

But further complications arose and nan surgeons past grounded to transportation retired a graft bypass, an cognition nan infirmary later told his family was a "bread and butter" process that would person made Ian's endurance "much much likely".

Mr Philip, described arsenic a loving man by his family, was admitted to intensive attraction and placed connected life support. He died six days later, aged 54.

Months later, an inquest was held into his death, but nan coroner did not cognize that an soul investigation into Ms Booth was nether measurement astatine nan aforesaid time.

She gave grounds and told nan coroner that she had done "the champion I could". The coroner went connected to reason that Mr Philip's decease was owed to "an different and analyzable group of circumstances [which] conspired together," and that Ms Booth "had an fantabulous CV".

It would return complete a twelvemonth and a half for nan infirmary to fto Mr Philip's family cognize that nan result could person been different, had a surgeon pinch nan correct specialism been alongside Ms Booth successful nan operating theatre.

The Freeman did not respond to questions astir really Ms Booth had travel to beryllium granted support to usage nan Ozaki procedure, which she had utilized astir 40 times successful total. Internal study published by nan infirmary recovered that "there was nary clear governance process for maintaining oversight of recently approved procedures".

In precocious 2022, Mr Philip's family were brought into nan infirmary and told they were 1 of 8 families being contacted complete failures by Ms Booth - 7 successful narration to patients that died, and 1 surviving diligent who had knowledgeable important harm.

"The standard of what had gone connected – we would ne'er moreover statesman to fathom what had happened," Mr Philip's son, Liam, told nan BBC.

"We couldn't process it astatine nan time. We walked retired of location bewildered."

The Freeman's investigation into Karen Booth had been ordered successful May 2021 - 2 months aft Mr Philip's decease - by Angus Vincent, a recently appointed subordinate aesculapian director, aft unit had approached him pinch their concerns astir Ms Booth. The investigation looked into 22 of her cases, nan BBC understands.

It recovered that a number of failures by Ms Booth had contributed to her mediocre outcomes. As good arsenic surgical errors, she was recovered to person had mediocre penetration into her ain levels of competence, partially done being inexperienced, and that she had grounded to activity thief from much elder colleagues.

The investigation could not find why Ms Booth had taken connected specified analyzable cases, though it described her arsenic "an enthusiastic surgeon pinch inadequate penetration into her skills and experience." Added to that, said nan investigators, was apt to beryllium nan department's analyzable caseload and an inadequate multi-disciplinary squad (MDT) process - successful which clinicians should travel together anterior to room to talk nan champion options for patients.

A spokesperson for nan Freeman would only corroborate to nan BBC that an investigation had taken spot "focused connected nan believe of 1 advisor surgeon" and that 8 patients "came to avoidable harm owed to unexpected aliases unintended events during analyzable high-risk surgery".

At nan aforesaid clip arsenic nan investigation into Karen Booth was taking place, a abstracted study into nan civilization of nan cardiac portion by nan Royal College of Surgeons (RCS), commissioned by nan hospital, recovered bullying-type behaviours had been prevalent successful nan cardiac unit.

In a BBC question and reply astir nan RCS study successful 2021, Mr Vincent - who was speaking connected behalf of nan infirmary - said that "no patients had been harmed" owed to nan mediocre culture, contempt by this clip knowing of Ms Booth's failures.

We asked nan Freeman if nan spot still stood by nan remarks Mr Vincent had made - it didn't respond.

At their gathering pinch Mr Philip's family successful 2022, nan infirmary said Ms Booth's narration pinch theatre unit was "excellent" and nary concerns regarding bullying had been identified.

Astonished by what she had learned astatine nan infirmary meeting, Mr Philip's widow, Melissa Cockburn, posted a connection connected societal media asking different families who had been contacted by nan Freeman to get successful touch.

Instead, 2 members of unit from nan hospital's cardiac portion made interaction and began to stock a bid of emails which showed Ms Booth's colleagues had been trying to raise nan siren astir her since 2018 - almost 3 years earlier Mr Philips had died.

One of nan emails shared pinch Ms Cockburn included figures from a departmental mortality audit. These showed that successful a portion of 7 cardiac surgeons, 8 of nan 17 deaths betwixt January and August 2018 had been Ms Booth's patients.

The email had been sent to Andrew Welch - nan Freeman's aesculapian head betwixt 2013 and 2024 - and said: "These figures are intelligibly a worry."

Another email to a abstracted objective head said: "There are worries from each azygous surgeon that she [Karen Booth] is taking connected cases beyond her ability, expertise and experience," citing "deaths and awesome complications". The email said nan surgeons nevertheless "all want to support her" and "make her a success".

But nan infirmary grounded to investigate, surgeons later claimed, aliases suspend her from practice.

Ms Cockburn told nan BBC that "if these concerns had been listened to successful 2018, a batch of group would still beryllium live today".

Three years later, successful 2021, nan surgeons wrote to subordinate aesculapian head Angus Vincent, sparking nan investigation, saying they felt that "personal friendships and adjacent associations had contributed importantly to nan ignoring of concerns".

The infirmary did not respond erstwhile asked what steps it had taken to guarantee nan information of patients during this time. Mr Welch, who now useful for nan spot successful a different role, declined to remark to nan BBC.

At 1 point, Ms Booth seemed to recognise her ain failings, penning successful an email to a workfellow successful September 2018 that "I person been acold excessively brave and gone extracurricular comfortableness zones successful nan past 6 months", adding she had been told that "I request to create wide shoulders but it surely isn't easy!"

In 2022, she highlighted nan department's mediocre moving civilization erstwhile questioned astir Mr Philip's death. She told nan authors of nan superior incident study into his decease that she "felt unsupported by nan remainder of [her] colleagues and that support was sometimes difficult to muster". The study recovered "significant tensions" successful nan cardiac portion meant location was nary chat of further support from a much knowledgeable surgeon.

After nan soul Freeman investigation, Booth was reported to nan GMC successful 2022, which initially put restrictions connected her practice, earlier lifting them successful early 2024. The GMC would not remark connected immoderate facet of its investigation.

Karen Booth is presently moving astatine nan Freeman successful a non-surgical role, and has joined nan hospital's support programme arsenic a mentor for surgeons who person been progressive successful adverse outcomes successful surgery.

The hospital's existent aesculapian director, Michael Wright, informed nan cardiac squad past November that Ms Booth was to resume her domiciled arsenic a bosom surgeon, having undergone retraining astatine a London hospital.

In response, a corporate email from a group of Ms Booth's cardiac surgeon colleagues successful June this twelvemonth said nan determination had "shattered spot successful ways that cannot beryllium repaired".

"The attraction connected facilitating Ms Booth's return has travel astatine nan disbursal of supporting those who raised concerns," nan email said.

Ian Philip's family are now calling for an outer investigation into each of Ms Booth's cases, believing it whitethorn expose different cases of avoidable diligent harm.

"There needs to beryllium a broad reappraisal of each nan individual surgeon's cases," said nan family's lawyer, Nick Ward-Lowery from Hudgell Solicitors. "It is imaginable that location are further superior incidents which person not been acknowledged."

The Freeman infirmary says it is "currently considering" nan adjacent shape of Ms Booth's phased return, "in statement pinch due standards, reappraisal recommendations and outer advice". It did not respond to questions arsenic to whether it would beryllium safe for patients if Ms Booth were to return to nan cardiac unit, fixed nan beardown guidance from immoderate of her colleagues.

In a statement, nan Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs nan Freeman hospital, said nan cardiac section "continues to beryllium astatine aliases supra nan nationalist average".

"We person undertaken extended activity to reside each of nan issues raised, pinch updates regularly reported to nan Trust Board, and we person made important advancement successful addressing failings. Work remains ongoing to support nan cardiac room section pinch further improvements."