Trust says BBC story about ‘penknife surgeon’ was misleading

The BBC reported prominently on Wednesday that a patient at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton had his chest opened with a penknife by a surgeon, whom it said was “operating” on him. The story was then reported widely by other media.

The BBC article claims the surgeon could not find a scalpel and instead used a Swiss Army knife, which he normally used to cut up fruit. It refers to the procedure as an “operation” and includes a quote from a third party suggesting “all the kit [must have been] there” when the incident took place.

The story links the issue to the ongoing police investigations into more than 100 alleged cases of medical negligence at University Hospitals Sussex Foundation Trust, and other care quality concerns at the trust, which have been highlighted by the BBC.

But the trust insists key points in the penknife story are misleading and inaccurate. It says the patient had been prepared for emergency surgery, but had not reached an operating theatre at the time, and had collapsed with a cardiac arrest when the surgeon intervened.

Patients who have a cardiac arrest will suffer irreversible brain damage within minutes unless they can be resuscitated.

The trust said the surgeon used the penknife, which was on hand to relieve the tension pneumothorax — gas in the chest cavity, which compresses the lungs and heart and can be fatal — rather than waiting for a scalpel to be found. The patient survived.

The trust said it sent the BBC a statement explaining this several weeks ago, confirming the incident happened in December last year, and underlining that the patient needed immediate life-saving care.

It told other media on Wednesday it was still “challenging their story because of a number of key inaccuracies”.

Chief medical officer Professor Catherine Urch said in the previous statement to the BBC: “The patient’s life was thankfully saved as a result of the actions of the surgical team, but everyone involved has accepted that those actions taken in the moment were outside normal procedures, and should not have been necessary.

“The surgeon involved reported the incident, and together with the wider team they have reviewed what happened, to learn lessons. The patient was fully informed as part of our commitment to duty of candour, and the team rapidly made changes as a result, as well as sharing their learning with colleagues at patient safety meetings.”

As a result of this, the trust has re-examined the components of its emergency packs and looked at human factors in the response, including situational awareness, leadership, and focused role responses.

In a statement, the BBC said: “The information included in our coverage is based on multiple sources, and where there is conflicting information, we have relied on the most authoritative of those sources. Where the trust has disputed these points, this is being reflected in our output.” 

It added it had not directly said the incident was in an operating theatre and had included the trust’s position on this; it had said it was an emergency and that it believed its reporting was an accurate reflection of events. It had asked the trust where the procedure took place but not got an answer, the BBC said.