'Blunder' surgeon still doing back operations despite errors which left one patient dead and another severely disabled

• Ahmed Abbas Hussein is still working at the Rivers Hospital, Hertfordshire
• His past errors left one man severely disabled and another man dead
• Andrew Sutton was robbed of his mobility and Dean Bircham bled to death

Ahmed Abbas Hussein is still working at the Rivers Hospital in Hertfordshire

A back surgeon has been allowed to carry on working at a private hospital despite blunders that left one man severely disabled and another man dead.

Ahmed Abbas Hussein is still working at the Rivers Hospital in Hertfordshire, where he is described as having ‘extensive experience in spinal surgery’. 

But patients are not told of his past errors, which robbed Andrew Sutton of his mobility and caused father Dean Bircham to bleed to death. Both underwent surgery to have back pain relieved.

Mr Bircham went under the knife in September 2010, three months after the surgeon received a formal warning from the General Medical Council over his treatment of Mr Sutton.

But Mr Hussein never told his patient of the warning, and nor did staff at the Rivers Hospital. Under GMC rules, neither was obliged to do so. 

Mr Bircham’s wife Julie, 55, said: ‘Had Dean known Mr Hussein’s history, he would never have consented to surgery.’

During the operation – to replace a spinal disc – Mr Hussein damaged a vein, causing massive bleeding.

A week later, following the amputation of a septic leg, Mr Bircham died of multiple organ failure. Mrs Bircham successfully sued Mr Hussein and won a seven-figure sum.

Five years before Mr Bircham’s death, Mr Hussein made mistakes that ‘devastated’ Mr Sutton’s life. 

He accidentally tore a membrane covering the spinal cord, leading to nerve damage. Mr Hussein was originally suspended by the GMC over Mr Sutton’s case, but it was reduced to a warning on appeal.

Ramsay Health Care, which runs the Rivers Hospital, said it was up to the GMC whether to let a consultant practise. 

The GMC said it had received a complaint from Mrs Bircham about the death of her husband.