Surgeon at crisis-hit NHS trust used penknife to cut open patient

University Hospitals Sussex are under police investigation for at least 105 cases of alleged medical negligence between 2015 and 2021. The most recent scrutiny comes as it was discovered a surgeon used a Swiss Army penknife, that he used to cut fruit for his lunch, to open the chest of a patient. The patient was in cardiac arrest prior to the incident. He claimed he could not find a sterile scalpel.

The trust confirmed the operation was an emergency but have acknowledged that the surgeon’s actions were “outside normal procedures and should not have been necessary”. The incident happened in December 2023 at Royal Sussex Hospital in Brighton. The patient survived but confidential documents uncovered the surgeon’s behaviour was deemed questionable and shocking by his colleagues. 

According to reports from the BBC, 3 other operations were carried out by the same surgeon where all patients died soon after. Internal investigations completed by the trust revealed that the patients experienced poor care but there was no breach in regulations. Investigations by the trust highlighted “themes for improvement”.

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Sources of publication: 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c62g7ed3qzxo
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/brighton-surgeon-swiss-army-knife-royal-sussex-county-hospital-b2623079.html