NHS surgeon who couldn’t find his scalpel cut patient’s chest open with the penknife he used to slice up his lunch

A SURGEON used a penknife to cut open a patient's chest during a cardiac arrest, claiming he couldn't find a clean scalpel. The patient, who was treated at Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton in December 2023, survived. The BBC reported that internal documents revealed colleagues felt the surgeon’s behaviour was “questionable”.

It said they were “very surprised” he was unable to find a sterile scalpel to carry out the procedure. Instead, he used a swiss army knife which he normally used to chop up fruit for his lunch. Read more on surgeries Prof Graeme Poston, an expert witness on clinical negligence and a former consultant surgeon, told the BBC: “It surprises me and appals me.

"Firstly, a penknife is not sterile. "Secondly it is not an operating instrument. And thirdly all the kit [must have been] there.

" University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the hospital, has since added the patient was due to have an emergency operation . Most read in Health But on the way to the theatre, he collapsed with a cardiac arrest outside of the operating room, which is when the surgeon intervened, the trust told Health Service Journal ( HSJ ). People who have a cardiac arrest - which is when the heart stops beating - will suffer irreversible brain damage within minutes unless they can be resuscitated .

Instead of waiting for a scalpel, the surgeon used the penknife to relieve gas trapped in the chest, otherwise known as a tension pneumothorax . It can cause.