A doctor, who lied about his real age, killed a mother-of-three during a routine procedure at The Royal Oldham Hospital, a court has heard.
Dr Isyaka Mamman, of Cumberland Drive, Royton, who has pleaded guilty to gross negligence manslaughter, killed Shahida Parveen, 48, during a routine bone marrow procedure in 2018.
The 85-year-old former doctor appeared at Manchester Crown Court today (July 4), and was told to “prepare” himself to spend time in jail by the judge, Mrs Justice Yip.
Prosecutor Andrew Thomas told the court that on September 3, 2018, Ms Parveen attended The Royal Oldham Hospital with her husband, Khizar Mahmood for a bone marrow biopsy.
She was seen by Mamman, without a chaperone, who was working as a speciality doctor in haematology.
During the procedure, Mamman, then 81, failed to obtain a sample of bone marrow from Ms Parveen’s hip bone, where samples are normally taken from and made the “hasty decision” to take a sample from her sternum instead, a “dangerous” procedure that is “rarely used” in the UK.
He told Ms Parveen to “roll onto her back”. She and her husband both protested but he continued, telling Ms Parveen “not to worry he had 40 years’ experience”.
Mamman used the same needle he had tried to insert into her hip bone and Ms Parveen lost consciousness immediately.
According to a statement heard by the court from a nurse who was working at a desk close to the examination room, Ms Parveen’s husband Mahmood came “running out” saying: “He killed her. I told him to stop three times and he didn’t. He killed her.”
Mamman had inserted the wrong biopsy needle, too low, and “completely missed” Ms Parveen’s sternum.
The biopsy needle, which is significantly thicker than an injection needle, passed between her third and fourth rib and pierced her pericardium, the sac containing the heart, causing massive internal bleeding.
Despite extensive resuscitation, Ms Parveen was pronounced dead shortly after the procedure.
READ MORE: Judge criticises doctor and hospital trust as 85-year-old jailed
In a victim's personal statement heard by the court, Khizar Mahmood, spoke of his heartbreak after losing his wife of 31 years.
He said: “Since she died, I believe my life has been over. She was everything to me and my three sons”, adding: “She was young and well and had no problems.
“Every day I relive that day in the hospital, her name being called, going into the room, the way the doctor spoke to us and when he didn't listen.”
Within his statement, Mr Mahmood also claimed that he had “begged” Mamman to stop during the procedure and that his wife had been “screaming”.
The court heard that Mamman had left his previous employment with the Medway Trust because of “poor performance” and that he had already been suspended once by medical watchdogs for lying about his age in 2004 and was sacked but then re-employed by the Royal Oldham Hospital in 2006, where he was responsible for a series of critical incidents.
In 2015, a formal complaint was made to The Royal Oldham Hospital when a patient complained Mamman used “excessive force” during a bone marrow biopsy and caused “considerable pain”.
According to the complaint, Mamman attempted to reinsert a “bent needle” and at one point used his knee “as leverage”.
He caused “pain and distress” but no lasting harm.
Then in 2016, another patient treated by Mamman was left “permanently disabled” after a needle penetrated his groin area during a bone marrow biopsy.
In mitigation, defence barrister Michael Hayton, said that by 2015 Mamman was a “failing” doctor and he should not have been allowed to continue treating patients.
He added: “He is not the only person at fault. He should not have been allowed to be in the position he was.
“There’s a grotesque catalogue of failings by the trust from 2015.”
Mr Hayton added that Mamman had no previous convictions and that being in his 80s he would have “grave difficulties” dealing with incarceration.
The hearing was adjourned until Tuesday, July 5.
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