Surgeon admits botching surgeries that left patients with life-changing injuries
An NHS surgeon has admitted to botching patients’ surgeries which left them with life-changing injuries, a tribunal has heard.
Dr Camillo Valero, who works at Norfolk and Norwich NHS trust and is facing allegations over his conduct towards three patients, has been admitted to severing a patient’s gallbladder during an operation.
Dr Valero is facing a medical practitioner’s tribunal where he already admitted to failures during two patients’ procedures.
Allegations against him include a failure to obtain a “critical view of safety” for his patients during surgeries.
He is also accused of shouting at patients during an altercation in an allegedly “aggressive” manner.
According to a tribunal document he was accused of asking the patient “are you a doctor?” when discussing his medication.
During surgery, Dr Valero is alleged to have misinterpreted the patient’s anatomy or sought assistance from an experienced surgeon following mistakes.
In the case of the third patient, allegations which have not been admitted or proven, Dr Valero is reported to have inappropriately discharged a patient with learning disabilities and did not adequately assess their mental capacity.
He was alleged to have told the patient’s sister: “He’s lying in his bed playing on his tablet right now so there can’t be too much wrong with him”, or words to that effect.
Prior to the discharge, Dr Valero is alleged to have failed to assess the patient’s food intake, failed to check that he did not have a distended bowl or that he’d had a bowel movement.
The hearing is set to conclude on 7 February 2023.
