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FIVE consultants have disputed claims in a hospital report which investigated why a Barrow dad lost a testicle during a routine op.
Bill Murray underwent the hydrocele procedure at Furness General Hospital in April after fluid gathered around his testicle.
Two days after the operation, carried out by urological consultant Ashutosh Jain, Mr Murray was rushed back to theatre where a second surgeon found his testicle was gangrene.
The University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust carried out a Root Cause Analysis and although the report highlighted failings Mr Murray did not feel it ascertained a cause.
He was also critical that the lead author of the report was Muhammad Naseem who, along with Mr Jain and former colleague Kavinder Madhra, has been reported to the regulator for clinical errors.
The Mail contacted five consultant urological surgeons based in others parts of the country and asked them for their thoughts.
All five, who between them have more than 100 years’ experience, flagged up a claim in the report which stated the outcome of Mr Murray’s operation was a ‘recognised risk’.
The report said: “Scrotal surgery can be associated with significant complications including the risk of scrotal haematoma which very rarely can endanger blood supply to the testis. This is rare and recognised complication.”
The consultants all disputed the report’s claim that a haematoma had caused the loss of the testicle.
One consultant, who works in Plymouth, said: “I have never seen it or heard of it in all the departments I have worked. I would add that they would need to provide evidence that it is a recognised complication.”
The consultants said if the testicle loss had been caused by a haematoma then ‘everything would have been black and dead’.
One of the other consultants added: “Something happened that terminally compromised the blood supply to the main part of the testicle, but didn’t result in the death of the back part of the testicle.”
The consultants agreed that ‘testicular loss is not a risk of hydrocele repair’ and that the only cause of a gangrene testicle – without damaging the rest of the scrotum, could be if ‘the testicle was twisted by the surgeon during the procedure’.
UHMBT medical director Dr Shahedal Bari said “We are very sorry for the pain and distress caused to this patient, and have apologised to him. Patient care and safety is our absolute priority.
“In response to concerns that have been raised about our urology services we have asked for two external independent reviews into the urology department.”
“Our urology services were reviewed by the Royal College of Surgeons in 2016, and we have asked York University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust to examine the actions we took arising out of that review, to ensure that we implemented all its recommendations.
“We also asked NHS England/ Improvement to commission an independent investigation into our urology services, and an investigator has now been appointed. At this stage we do not have any further details on when the review will take place, however, once it has been established we will be providing all the information relating to the cases that have been identified for their consideration.
“Once these reviews are completed we make the findings public and act on any recommendations.
