Patient of suspended hospital surgeon says she wants answers

A university student whose knee was operated on by a since-suspended hospital surgeon when she was 15 years old said she feels sick looking at the joint as she does not know what is happening with it.

Chloe Humphries, of Newmarket, Suffolk, has hypermobility and issues with her left kneecap which led to multiple painful dislocations – as often as twice a week since 2013.

The 25-year-old, who is a psychology and criminology student at the University of Brighton, said that in 2015 surgeon Kuldeep Stohr operated on her for a reconstruction of the joint.

Ms Stohr, who specialises in paediatric surgery, was suspended earlier this year from her role at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge amid concerns about care that was “below the expected standard”.

Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CUH) said the cases of almost 800 patients are being reviewed in relation to the practice of the consultant orthopaedic surgeon.

Ms Humphries said she first learned that cases were being reviewed after her mother saw a television news report and called her.

She said she was called in April of this year by an NHS family liaison worker and told that her case was being reviewed, and was later told it was “going to take about a year”.

“I think of my knee right now and it’s making me feel sick because I don’t know what’s going on down there at the moment,” she said.

“I thought the grinding noise and the fact I can’t feel my leg and that I can’t walk up stairs for long without getting pain, I thought that was normal.

“Now it’s making me really think, oh my god, it’s not.

“I feel (it’s) almost like a betrayal due to how they’ve handled it, how I found out from the news rather than them.”

Ms Humphries said her knee “still dislocates to this day”.

“It’s nowhere near as bad as it used to be, however, I would put that more down to I’ve now learned the movements that I can’t do, specific turns,” she said.

“But also after the surgery I had a lot of pain afterwards and my knee would lock in place quite a lot.

“I went back to Ms Stohr and we later found out that there was a bit of bone that was left in there and it was underneath my kneecap so it kept kind of getting locked in place.”

She said she had a second operation with Ms Stohr in 2018, aged 18, to remove the piece of bone.

The first surgery with Ms Stohr, “a left patella MPFL reconstruction and hamstring repair”, meant she was off school for around six weeks during her GCSEs, she said.

She said she felt things were “worse” after the 2015 operation “because I now don’t have any feeling on a large portion of the left side of my leg and also I have been left with a grinding noise whenever I walk”.

Ms Humphries said reports that concerns had been raised as early as 2015 were something she had not known about before.

“Me and my mum were never told anything about that ever and my mum, bless her heart, she’s in bits,” said Ms Humphries.

“She’s so regretful. It’s so surreal having your mum apologise and get really upset that she’s given consent, but without having informed consent.

“My mum even said to me that if she knew any of this she would never have said yes to it, never.”

She said she “would like answers … for what’s happened, why they did what they did”.

“Being in the dark about it all, that’s the worst bit,” said Ms Humphries.

CUH chief medical officer Dr Susan Broster said: “When concerns were raised last year, we commissioned an external expert clinical review into the care of a number of patients.

“After we received the report this January, we put in place a comprehensive external clinical review comprising several experienced paediatric orthopaedic surgeons from other trusts chaired by Andrew Kennedy KC.

“Separately, an external and independent investigation has been launched into how we as a trust handled concerns that were raised previously and whether the right actions were taken.

“The detailed external clinical review will take time to complete.

“To support patients, we have a dedicated patient and family liaison team and every patient has a named case worker to support them.

“We will also be writing to patients on a regular basis.

“Where harm is identified through the clinical review process, patients will be offered in-person meetings with a senior clinician as well as further treatment if needed.

“We apologise again to patients and we want to do everything we can to support them at what we know is distressing and anxious time for many.”

Meanwhile, Cambridgeshire Police said it had received an online report and was “in the process of reviewing the information sent to us”.