Anaesthetist struck off for boy’s death in bid to lift ban

An anaesthetist whose incompetence ended in the death of a 10-year-old boy and left a woman in Caesarean childbirth able to feel every stroke of the surgeon's knife is bidding to be put back on the medical register.

John Evans-Appiah had been banned from practising after he was found guilty of 18 charges of serious professional misconduct following a catalogue of fatal and near fatal mistakes across the UK.

Evans-Appiah's errors contributed to the death of Darren Denholm, of Armadale, West Lothian, who had gone to a dentist to have a tooth removed.

Darren's mother, Isla, said last night that she was furious he was even being considered for reinstatement and said she would appeal if he were successful.

She said: "I didn't know anything about this. When I heard about it, it was like my legs had been kicked away from me. I was told he would never practise again.

"I am absolutely disgusted that this man was even able to go through with this hearing. I was told doctors have rights, but where are my son's rights? I can assure you I will appeal and fight it all the way."

Just three weeks after Darren died, another mistake by Evans-Appiah meant mother-of-five, Hazel Woolger was put through a Caesarean at Maidstone Hospital, Kent, which she likened to horror film a Nightmare on Elm Street.

In 1993, Evans-Appiah, who trained in Ukraine, came close to killing a patient as she underwent a Caesarean at Falkirk Royal Infirmary by giving her a potentially lethal cocktail of drugs.

The Ghanaian-born doctor, now 64, has tried to get back on the register after being found guilty in October 2000 of "falling seriously below the standard expected".

In October 1998, Darren Denholm went to the Peffermill Clinic in Edinburgh to have a tooth removed. Evans-Appiah told the dentist to administer a local anaesthetic on top of a general anaesthetic, despite knowing this could cause heart problems.

He failed to monitor Darren's heart or blood pressure and when the boy turned green and suffered a fatal heart attack, he was unable to give clear instructions to staff.

After the child's death, he tried to cover up his mistakes by falsifying records and attempting to pressurise the dentist and the dental nurse into backing up his account.

The General Medical Council fitness to practise adjudication panel in London heard that Mrs Woolger, then 31, was left in agony after Evans-Appiah failed to give her enough anaesthetic during an emergency Caesarean. Despite her telling him she had feeling in her abdomen, he instructed the obstetrician to operate and she felt every stroke of the knife as her child was removed from her womb.

She began moaning loudly the minute the surgeon's scalpel went in her and "swore and screeched" when the baby was removed. At a hearing yesterday, Stephen Brassington, counsel for the GMC, said: "Dr Evans-Appiah's incompetence during the resuscitation process was a significant factor in the death of the child. That tragic failure of professional competence was followed by misconduct of an equally serious kind.

"Following the child's removal to hospital, he attempted to interfere with evidence of the anaesthetic and subsequently to mislead any investigation into the child's death. That rendered him dishonest and untrustworthy."

Evans-Appiah wrote to the GMC this year, saying: "These two cases have obviously made an indelible impression on me forever. I apologise profusely to the Caesarean section woman and to the relatives of the boy who lost his life." Since arriving in Britain in the early 1970s, Evans-Appiah, of Leyton, East London, has held more than 40 positions.

Since being struck off the register he now works as a minicab driver. His case prompted calls from the British Medical Association for better monitoring of locum doctors.

Mrs Denholm later won undisclosed compensation over the case, thought to be around £40,000.