Urologist Manu Nair, 53, allegedly left patients incontinent or infertile following surgery he carried out at four hospitals in the West Midlands
A surgeon from Channel 4’s Embarrassing Bodies has avoided a tribunal and been allowed to keep working in the NHS – despite being sued by up to 130 patients.
Urologist Manu Nair, 53, allegedly left patients incontinent or infertile following surgery he carried out at four hospitals in the West Midlands.
Some claim he treated patients for prostate cancer when they did not have the disease and lawyers allege he used treatment yet to be approved for use outside clinical trials.
The operations in question took place at three private hospitals: Spire Parkway in Solihull, Spire Little Aston, and BMI Priory, Edgbaston. They also took place at Heartlands NHS Hospital in Birmingham.
But after more than three years under investigation by the GMC, the watchdog has now decided he doesn’t need to answer to a tribunal.
Instead he’s been told he can keep working for the NHS – as long as he doesn’t go private and he has a mentor at work.
It comes despite law firm Irwin Mitchell’s representing more than 60 people and Thompsons Solicitors helping 70 others take legal action against him.
Lawyers claim one legal case has already been settled and there have been admissions of liability from the Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust on several others.
Dawn Harper (left) Christian Jessen and Pixie McKenna (right) are all presenters on the Channel 4 show
Nair, who appeared as an expert on the popular Channel 4 show ‘Embarrassing Bodies’ will still be allowed to work in the NHS
The GMC refused to say where he was working now, but said he was listed as being connected to City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust.
One ex-patient – one of around 70 being represented by Thompsons Solicitors – said: ‘I am disappointed, annoyed, and upset that Mr Nair has not been struck off and is being allowed to work in the NHS.’
Independent urologists have so far reviewed the cases of some 170 men.
The married father-of-two Mr Nair spent more than three years under investigation by the GMC, during which time he was allowed to continue working for the NHS.
The GMC refused to say where Nair (pictured talking to a patient on the show) was working now, but said he was listed as being connected to City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust
It is understood he worked at Southport and Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust and Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust.
Both trusts said they were fully aware of Mr Nair’s background and that he adhered to the conditions of his employment.
But it has now been decided by the GMC that he won’t face a tribunal after ‘undertakings’ were agreed.
The terms include telling the GMC where he works, to agree to a personal development plan to ‘address deficiencies’, only work in an NHS setting, and not to carry out sertain procedures, except in life-threatening emergencies.
The operations in question took place at three private hospitals: Spire Parkway in Solihull, Spire Little Aston, and BMI Priory, Edgbaston, and at Heartlands NHS Hospital in Birmingham (pictured)
Linda Millband, national practice lead for medical negligence at Thompsons Solicitors, said: ‘While we believe that medical practitioners can and do learn lessons from mistakes, an NHS trust or private healthcare provider engaging someone who has faced this level of criticism and been the subject of a GMC investigation, should have in place a robust system of stringent and ongoing checks.’
Laura Daly, specialist medical negligence lawyer at Irwin Mitchell, said: ‘We have heard a number of hugely concerning accounts from clients regarding the treatment they received from Mr Nair.
‘Many of the patients have had prostate cancer treatment or surgery by the Consultant Urologist.
‘Some have later questioned whether they ever had cancer, or if they did whether the surgery they received was adequate, while others were given a treatment known as HIFU (High Intensity Focused Ultrasound) which we allege had yet to be approved for use outside a clinical trial and which our clients had not been informed of.
‘The huge impact that this has had on our clients cannot be overstated, with some being left suffering incontinence, pain when passing urine and even facing the trauma of never being able to have children.’