Doctor’s bid to lift his suspension fails

Judge told how baby and other patients died in his care

ADOCTOR from Potchefstroom who is being probed after numerous patients died under his care has failed in his urgent application to have his suspension lifted.

One of his alleged victims was a 12-month-old girl who suffered burns when a cup of boiling water fell on her.

While a hospital said its doctors could do nothing for the child, Dr David Sello undertook to remove her skin “bit by bit”. The child later died, it was stated in papers before the high court in Pretoria.

It was claimed another victim died in Sello’s consulting rooms after he undertook to “unlock his prostate”. Sello allegedly declared that this patient, who apparently bled to death, had died of natural causes.

These cases came to light following complaints investigated by eNCA’s current affairs programme Checkpoint. In March, the TV show’s producers approached the Health Professions Council of SA (HPCSA) about the complaints.

This resulted in Sello’s urgent suspension, which barred him from practising pending an investigation.

Sello, however, complained to the court that he had been treated unfairly during his suspension hearing. He did not mention the allegations against him, but cited a number of technical objections regarding the handling of his suspension hearing by the HPCSA’s professional conduct committee.

Judge Sulet Potterill dis- missed all his objections, and said the complaints were indeed serious. “The applicant is completely silent on these complaints…

“The HPCSA had to act to protect the unsuspecting public. Suspension to prevent harm or injury to a patient as a result of unsafe professional practices or a substantial risk of such harm or injury need to be averted,” the judge said.

Protection of the public overrode the rights of Sello to practise as a doctor, she added. The judge said no court could allow him to practise pending his disciplinary hearing.

Asked for comment on the allegations by the Checkpoint crew at the time of filming the documentary, Sello simply said “no comment”.

The HPCSA said the allegations levelled against Sello were serious and it was obliged to investigate them to protect the public.

It received five complaints, including one of a woman who said she had to have a finger amputated, allegedly due to an injection administered wrongly. Her arm started to swell and she was admitted to hospital. She claimed Sello had instructed her not to contact him.

A 57-year-old diabetic died a few days after Sello promised to “unblock his prostate” in his consulting rooms. It was said that the consulting rooms were not equipped to handle such a procedure.

Another patient who also had his “prostate unblocked” allegedly suffered damage to his urinary system.