Surgeons guilty of kidney op blunders

Two doctors were today facing serious misconduct charges after the General Medical Council found they wrongly removed a patient's only functioning kidney.

The GMC's professional conduct committee decided that the facts of the case proved against consultant urologist John Gethin Roberts and medical registrar Mahesh Goel and could support a finding of serious professional misconduct.

Both Mr Roberts, 61, and Dr Goel, 41, deny the serious professional misconduct charge.

The allegations come after they carried out an operation on 69-year-old John Graham Reeves, removing his good left kidney instead of his chronically diseased right one at the Prince Philip Hospital in Llanelli, South Wales.

The GMC panel, sitting in London, was due to retire later today to consider whether their actions constitute serious professional misconduct which could result in the doctors being struck off the medical register.