A surgeon suspended from the private Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, UK, asked a patient to perform a ‘heil Hitler salute,’ recordings released by ITV News last week revealed.
Surgeon Kuldeep Stohr is being investigated for potential failures in 800 medical cases. The latest recording was submitted as part of a complaint against her during her private practice. A Sky News investigation revealed that the trust may have downplayed concerns about Stohr as early as 2016 after an initial review found there may have been some issues with surgeries she performed.
A senior source at the hospital told Sky News that children were "severely permanently harmed" and "some of the cases are horrendous."
The patient, teenager Georgia D’Arcy, was instructed to perform the salute during a consultation, ITV News reported. Hospital management also reportedly heard Stohr deliver the instruction.
“If I say can you do this sort of movement for me, so like a heil Hitler or a heil Caesar, any pain when you do that?” Stohr is heard saying in the clip.
The 18-year-old reportedly broke her rib while on holiday in 2023, which was confirmed by a hospital in Dubai as well as the Cambridge institution.
When meeting with Stohr in January at the Nuffield hospital, recordings revealed that the surgeon disputed that the rib was broken and grew increasingly frustrated with the family.
“You’re still not letting it go, are you?” Stohr told the mother in response to requests for an MRI of the rib.
After the mother responded “Pardon” to Stohr’s comments, she responded “You’re not letting it go, are you. You’ve come here for an opinion, and how do you explain what I’ve just said? I’ll get an MRI scan of what’s relevant.”
“Okay, I’m getting angry actually, so I need to take just a deep breath,” she later told the mother. “... I just need to take a deep breath and channel my emotions, I’m sorry.”
In a statement, Ms Stohr told ITV: "I am not able to comment on individual cases due to my duty to protect patient confidentiality.
"I always strive to provide the highest standards of care to my patients. I am cooperating fully with the investigation, and it would not be appropriate to say more at this time."
A spokesperson for Nuffield Health stressed to the news site: “We are aware of this complaint that dates back to January 2024. We took the complaint extremely seriously and conducted a thorough investigation at the time, ensuring that the patient’s family received regular updates throughout the process.
“At Nuffield Health we hold ourselves to the highest standards of care and professionalism. The standard of care and conduct fell significantly below what we expect from any of the independent consultants who operate out of our hospitals, and we issued a full apology to the patient and their family.
“The consultant in question no longer practices at our Cambridge Hospital, and she hasn’t operated here since October 2023.”
Issues with surgeries performed by Kuldeep Stohr
A hospital source told Sky News that much of the damage suffered by patients had been entirely "avoidable."
"The lives of children and families have been ruined," the source said. "Stohr destroyed people's lives by performing very poor surgery. She destroyed some hip joints."
In one case, a child was said to have been left with a broken arm for 11 days after Stohr failed to spot the injury.
Staff were "bullied and intimidated when they tried to raise concerns," and told there was no problem with Stohr's practice.
The surgeon was also said to have failed to consistently take CT scans after surgeries took place, despite post-surgical expectations for treating Developmental Dysplasia of the Hip.
One mother who approached Stohr for support in treating her son's painful birth defect on his foot was told by the surgeon, "There is no operation within my remits or that I can or am willing to perform, go away and leave it in the hands of God," the mother told Sky News.
While the child was treated at another hospital, his mother said, "I've been told that if she had done something sooner or even attempted to do something sooner, then he probably would have stood a bit better chance than what he's currently going through."