NHS surgeon is struck off after he almost killed a patient by connecting the wrong parts of their organs together

By KATHERINE LAWTON, SENIOR NEWS REPORTER Published: 17:50, 3 August 2026 | Updated: 17:51, 3 August 2026 An NHS surgeon has been struck off after he almost killed a patient by connecting the wrong parts of their organs together.  Dr Yasser Abdel Rahman was performing emergency bowel surgery on a male patient at The Royal Oldham Hospital in Greater Manchester when he connected the wrong part of the small intestine to the stomach, a tribunal heard. It was a major surgical error and a 'totally unconventional operation that was not compatible with life', it was found. The patient was left in 'uncontrollable pain' because his bowel and stomach were in a 'closed loop' - but Dr Abdel Rahman told the family that surgery had been a success. Dr Abdel Rahman's blunder meant the patient's bowel contents had 'nowhere to go apart from back into the stomach in a circular fashion'. The patient did not have a bowel movement for three weeks. The tribunal heard that he would have died if a different surgeon had not carried out a second operation to fix the error. Dr Abdel Rahman never apologised or admitted he had made a mistake, and even claimed there was a 'witch hunt' against him. Dr Yasser Abdel Rahman was performing emergency bowel surgery on a male patient at The Royal Oldham Hospital when he connected the wrong part of the small intestine to the stomach, a tribunal heard He has now been struck off for serious professional misconduct as his mistake was judged to be 'as bad as it gets'. The Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) heard that Dr Abdel Rahman qualified in Egypt in 1993. At the time of the incident, he was working at The Royal Oldham Hospital as a consultant general and colorectal surgeon. Dr Abdel Rahman, who was a locum at the NHS hospital and had worked there for only 'a few days', performed an emergency operation on a patient on August 25, 2020. The man, only referred to as Patient A by the tribunal, had a tumour in his small bowel and a 'perforated necrotic loop of small bowel'. Dr Abdel Rahman carried out a five-hour long surgery in which he cut the small bowel, leaving 'two ends'. In a statement, Dr Abdel Rahman said he and a vascular surgeon decided to carry out a procedure to connect the intestine to the stomach so that the 'digestive/bowel continuity is maintained'. After this, he said that a test was done to make sure there were no 'obstructions that would prevent digestive/bowel continuity'. Following the surgery, the patient reported 'increasing pain' until it was 'uncontrollable', he was vomiting and had no bowel movements at all which indicated that 'the procedure was not a success'. A nurse noted that Dr Abdel Rahman seemed 'unconcerned' by the fact that Patient A had no bowel movements for weeks, and was 'dismissive' of her concerns. The tribunal found that the patient did not have a bowel movement for three weeks. On September 11, 2020, Dr Abdel Rahman discussed the procedure with Patient A's mother and father, saying that he would send him home 'straight away' once his pain was under control and that 'all the signs are saying that' his bowels would work soon. Anthony Rate, a consultant general and colorectal surgeon at the hospital, took over the patient's care on September 15 after his family and nursing staff raised concerns. A second emergency operation then revealed Dr Abdel Rahman had made major surgical errors. Specifically, he had connected the wrong part of the small intestine to the stomach, which meant Patient A's bowel contents had 'nowhere to go apart from back into the stomach in a circular fashion'. Dr Abdel Rahman had created a 'closed loop'. Mr Rate salvaged some of the bowel, giving the patient a stoma - attaching the cut ends of the bowel to the skin. The General Medical Council (GMC)'s expert witness at the tribunal, former consultant general and colorectal surgeon Anthony Blower, said that the surgery would have been 'extremely difficult' because of a previous surgery done on the patient and the presence of the 'huge' tumour. However, he said Dr Abdel Rahman should have tried to get help from a colleague if he realised the difficulties the surgery might involve. Mr Blower said the procedure carried out by Dr Abdel Rahman was 'at the extreme end of surgical error,' and was 'as bad as it gets for a consultant surgeon'. He said the procedure was 'not known to man', and would have 'led directly to the patient's death' if it had been left as it was. Mr Blower said: 'Dr Abdel Rahman's procedure can at best be described as bizarre and was a totally unconventional operation that is not compatible with life. 'Patient A would have died in the post-operative period if it was not for the intervention of Mr Rate.' He added that another section of the small bowel had just been left lying in the abdomen, which was 'totally inappropriate', 'unconventional' and 'extremely wrong'. 'He at no time considered that something may have gone wrong surgically,' Mr Blower said. This led to a delay in the realisation that there had been an error. The tribunal heard Dr Abdel Rahman felt there was a 'witch hunt' against him, and that Royal Oldham Hospital was 'pointing the finger of blame' at him. He claimed that as a doctor he had '30 years of an unblemished record. Without a single complaint. Ever'. The tribunal found: 'The Tribunal had seen no contemporaneous or subsequent evidence of remorse, empathy, or recognition of the impact on Patient A and his family. It saw no attempt at an apology.' It said that Dr Abdel Rahman made the surgical errors and should have sought help from a colleague before starting the surgery. The tribunal found that he failed to respond to warning signs that the surgery had not been successful, wrongly told the patient's family that it had been a success, and failed to consider concerns that there was a problem. The professional tribunal also heard that conditions were placed on his registration as a doctor in July 2021, which included that he had to tell the GMC if he applied for a job outside the UK. It found he failed to comply with these conditions when he worked as a locum at Affidea Express Care Clinic in Ireland in February 2022. The tribunal concluded that his fitness to practise was impaired by misconduct, and struck him off the register. An immediate order of suspension was put in place in case Dr Abdel Rahman chooses to appeal against the tribunal's decision to strike him off the register.