A surgeon will not be struck off the medical register over a
botched kidney operation, a disciplinary panel has ruled.
No action will be taken against Riza Murat Gurun after he
removed the wrong kidney from a cancer patient at Ayr Hospital in
March 2006.
A General Medical Council Fitness to Practise Panel heard that
several factors led to the mistake - with a CT abdomen report
wrongly identifying a lesion in the patient's right kidney.
Also, the patient's symptoms were on the right side, and a GP
referral letter had referred to a right-sided lesion, the panel was
told.
A month prior to the surgery date, a clinical note written by a
specialist registrar in urology also referred to a right-sided
lesion.
Mr Gurun said he did not look at the ultrasound or CT scan of
the abdomen before the operation. He admitted he did not act in the
best interest of the patient - known as JH.
The panel said it accepted his evidence that he never blamed the
errors of others or the hospital's system failures. However, it
added he bore the "ultimate responsibility".
It stated: "The panel is satisfied that your decision to proceed
with the operation was more than mere negligence. Accordingly, it
regards this as an act of misconduct."