Trailblazing female heart surgeon ‘forced out in toxic feud’
High Court told professor was excluded by jealous colleagues at heart unit with high death rates
A LEADING cardiac surgeon claims she was suspended from a heart unit criticised for soaring death rates because colleagues were envious of her success.
Prof Marjan Jahangiri, the first female professor of cardiac surgery in Europe, claims she was subjected to a “campaign of bullying and harassment”, and in one instance was anonymously sent a dead animal and a decapitated doll in the post.
She has asked the High Court to issue an order lifting her exclusion from St George’s Hospital in south-west London with immediate effect.
She was excluded earlier this month in the wake of a damning report that uncovered evidence of a “toxic feud” between two rival camps at the unit that left staff feeling a high death rate was inevitable. It said the unit was consumed by a “dark force” and patients were put at risk by a dysfunctional team of surgeons.
The report found the facility had a cardiac surgery death rate of 3.7 per cent – above the national 2 per cent average.
Iain Quirk, Prof Jahangiri’s counsel, said that despite being an extremely skilled surgeon, she had been treated in the “most outrageous” way and was targeted because of “envy at her success”. He told the court that she was suspended on “the thinnest of grounds” against the background of the report by Mike Bewick, a former deputy medical director at NHS England, which was prompted by higher than expected death rates at the heart surgery unit.
Mr Quirk said: “The inescapable conclusion is that this is a witch hunt – an attempt to pin the blame for the department on her.”
‘Two weeks away is enough to allow those complex skills to lapse ... she has never had more than two weeks off’
Two leading surgeons were suspended from their posts in the wake of the report, amid allegations they were seen as troublemakers by managers having attempted to blow the whistle on problems at the unit, although this was denied by the trust.
Mr Quirk told Mr Justice Nicklin that Prof Jahangiri’s trainees had said they would leave if she was not reinstated and they were not being trained properly. He said the unit was dismantling her research and operations had been cancelled with patients not told the reason, adding that her practice and reputation were being seriously harmed.
“Exclusion is the worst thing that can happen to a doctor, and for one of the country’s leading professors in cardiac surgery it is disastrous,” he said.
“Just two weeks away is enough to allow those complex skills to lapse, which is why she has never had more than two weeks off. Her practice has been decimated.”
Simon Cheetham QC, for the hospital trust, acknowledged Prof Jahangiri’s clinical skills and her contribution to research and training, and insisted there was no “vendetta” against her. He told the judge the bigger issue was the state of the cardiac unit, which had a knock-on effect on the trust’s future as a major trauma centre.
Her exclusion arose from an allegation that she impeded a further trust-commissioned review into breakdowns in relationships within the unit by interaction with a potential witness.
Mr Cheetham said that the exclusion was not “outrageous” but reasonable, taking into account all the relevant matters, and should continue pending the completion of the review.
It was necessary, he added, that the review was completed quickly and efficiently and maintained its integrity.
The judge said he would give his decision on Tuesday.