Child death ruling prompts inquiry call

Bristol Royal Infirmary where 29 children died after heart operations

Parents of children who died following operations at Bristol Royal Infirmary have renewed their calls for a public inquiry into the case.

The General Medical Council ruled on Friday that two Bristol Royal Infirmary surgeons - James Wisheart and Dr Janardhan Dhasmana - and their manager, Dr John Roylance, do have a case to answer.

Dr John Roylance could be struck off

Twenty-nine babies died in operations carried out by the two surgeons between 1988 and 1995. The three are accused of professional misconduct and could be struck off when the GMC reconvenes in mid-June.

But parents say the inquiry was too narrow and excluded other children who died or were damaged in operations. They also repeated calls for a public inquiry. Health Secretary Frank Dobson is likely to call an internal inquiry when the case is concluded.

'Cover-up'

Jonathan Gibbons, who lost his daughter Jessica, was critical of the GMC's handling of the case, calling it a "cover-up" because he said it only concentrated on some of the cases. "They don't want it to look as bad as it seems," he said.

The Bristol Heart Children Action Group, which includes many of the parents, says it is still unclear how many children died in operations at the hospital. It claims up to 78 died and a further 13 were left brain-damaged.

Maria Shortis, a member of the group, said the GMC had "a very narrow remit and limited data available", but added that the ruling would come as a relief to parents. She was also critical of the time taken to make the decision. Parents have been waiting all week for news of the ruling.

Ms Shortis, whose daughter died in an operation, said the responsibility for the deaths in Bristol was collective with everyone from the Department of Health down sharing the blame.

High mortality rate

"A public inquiry would compel witnesses to attend. The truth would come out, failures could be identified and structures put in place," she said.

Julie Johnson, mother of one of the children who died, said: "You never get over the death of a child. In the early days, we accepted that the hospital had done its best. Now I know it did not. It is very difficult to accept that."

Belinda Collyer lost her daughter Sian

Belinda Collyer, whose daughter Sian died in a heart operation, said she was not given the full facts about the risks of the operation.

Steve Bolsin, the consultant anaethetist who blew the whistle on the high mortality rate at the hospital, said he had informed anaethetists, surgeons and Dr Roylance of his concerns that children were being put at unnecessary risk.

He said the problem was that power was concentrated in the hands of "an elite group of cardiology surgeons".

Now working in Australia after resigning his post, he said he had faced "a lot of acrimony" after blowing the whistle and had been threatened with constructive dismissal.

The three Bristol doctors are expected to put up a strong fight when the GMC reconvenes. They say some of the children who died developed complications and that many of the operations were highly complex.