AN anaesthetist has been found guilty of “unsatisfactory professional conduct” after the death of a middle-aged man who had emergency surgery on an infected big toe at Dubbo Hospital in 2014.
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Dr Sanaa Mohammed Ismail, 50, understood to no longer work at Dubbo Hospital, was also reprimanded in 2009 for her treatment of teenager Vanessa Anderson who died in Royal North Shore Hospital after being hit by a golf ball in 2005.
In both cases the NSW Health Care Complaints Commission prosecuted Dr Ismail before a Medical Professional Standards Committee.
On Tuesday the commission reported of an April 13, 2016 finding of unsatisfactory professional conduct following an inquiry into Dr Ismail’s care and treatment of a male patient at Dubbo Hospital on January 31, 2014.
The reasons for the finding included failure to conduct an adequate pre-anaesthetic review of the patient, adequately monitor his blood pressure, recognise his deteriorating condition during surgery, promptly call for a medical emergency team, keep adequate medical records and provide ongoing and timely communication to the patient’s family.
Dr Ismail had used total intravenous anaesthesia with Propofol when it was “not appropriate”, given the patient’s comorbidities.
The “morbidly obese” patient had a medical history of type 2 diabetes, cardiac disease, hypertension and sleep apnoea.
In a May 30 2014 statement Dr Ismail told of being unwell on January 31 after returning from overseas with “severe laryngitis and pneumonia”.
At a hearing she acknowledged that she should not have “come to work that day and should have cancelled the list”.
“She said she felt under pressure as a result of the hospital being short staffed, it being towards the end of the holiday period when most fly-in specialists were still on holiday and there was no one to replace her,” reads an online document containing the April 13 finding.
“However, she acknowledged that this did not excuse her conduct and, since then, she has twice cancelled her list at Dubbo Private Hospital when she has been ill.”
Dr Ismail has told of being “deeply remorseful” in relation to the man’s death in 2014.
The commission reported on Tuesday that Dr Ismail had been reprimanded “in the strongest possible terms” as part of the April 13 finding, and conditions imposed on her registration.
They include providing a report within seven days of the end of each calendar month to the Medical Council of NSW.
Dr Ismail must inform the council of “all surgeries undertaken in the last month for which she has been the anaesthetist where any intra-operative complication or adverse event arose”.
The anaesthetist must also complete the course Effective Management of Anaesthetic Crises run by the Sydney Clinical Skills and Simulation Centre, and be subject to supervision.
Dr Ismail can appeal the committee’s decision to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
The Western NSW Local Health District was unable to provide a response to the committee’s finding within a specified deadline on Tuesday.
Chief executive officer of Dubbo Private Hospital Julie Whinfield told the Daily Liberal late on Tuesday afternoon that it had been “advised by the Medical Council of NSW in regards to the outcome of the Professional Standards Committee in relation to Dr Sanaa Ismail”.
“Conditions of practice are in place and the facility abides by the council ruling,” she said.