Awwww LB  That is awful..... but my advice is to concentrate on the fact that he made your dreams come true... nothing can change that

He was an amazing man to you.
He gave you your little girl.
He has feet of clay like a lot of heroes.

Don't give it another thought... enjoy your little girl and be thankful that you and she are fine.

We don't know the full story just the hysterical ramblings of a forum dedicated to MRSA.

Aw Lazybug... you really do have to hang onto how YOU feel about him.

My old boss had to lead an investigation on an obs & gynae consultant at our place...   I knew from what I got to hear working for him that there had been concerns about his practice for along time...   he left a lot of women doubley incontinent, and there were allegations of a less than respectful attitude to the patient in surgery...   twas one of the few medical tribunals that I knew of where the consultant was disciplined & dismissed from the hospital.(& tbh I was in agreement with this)

But when it hit the papers there was a deluge of women who said that had it not been for this man they would never have become mothers...  to them he was a hero... and thats something that can't be taken from him.

So... I think you have to accept to some the Consultant was a nightmare...  but to others, yourself included...  you have a lot to be grateful to them for.

Thanks guys. I know I should focus on the fact he gave me my dream come true and I am but I just can't stop crying. He is just such a lovely, lovely man and yet reading such hurtful comments about him by a very bitter person is making me feel so angry. I really want to post on there but I just haven't got the energy or strength to cope with the nasty replies I'll get.

I'm just so confused. It's like finding out a really horrible secret. All this happened just as I was starting my IVF journey... How ironic!

I wonder what my mum was thinking sending me that link? What good would it have achieved?

I will add... in my experience most consultants have people that will slate them & that had bad experiences... whilst to others they were amazing...

not to the extent of your Consultant... or the one I had dealings with...  but on a lesser scale.

ok...  come away from the linked page.

take a deep breath...   its ok.

Try to compartmentalise the doctor... your doctor... their doctor..

I've gotta go to bed now.... 

please don't tear yourself apart over this...  

Yeah thanks Ditty

I gotta go to bed too. I'll have to see how I feel in the morning... I almost feel like I've been betrayed which is pretty random

Just read the first post on the link....to be honest I was expecting something a bit more sinister, not discounting what the woman went through, but it was a medical issue and not all the facts are known. He may well be fully guilty of what he was accused of (the large settlement appears to pay testimony to that tbf) - but you know how he treated you and that's what matters. He's still practising and I imagine has moved on from what happened, it's fresh for you as you've only just found out about it so it's bound to be a shock, but concentrate on how he helped to change and benefit your life.

My question regarding that report is why did the woman leave it so long before asking for someone else to look at her or demand to be seen elsewhere? (She may well have done but what I read doesn't seem to be the case)

Doctors can make mistakes, diagnosis is a balanced view, not science. I feel sorry for all that suffer

I'm not sure why you feel betrayed Lazybug.... what happened to that woman had nothing to do with the care you received from this doctor at all.

Just forget about it - as I and others have said. He was an excellent clinician to you, not to someone else.
No need to take it personally.

Remember what he did for you and respect him for that. Mistakes happen, if this did happen I doubt very much he woke and thought "Right which patient shall I inflict pain and suffering on today" unless he was a psychopath.

Coincidentally, I had Growly Jnr at the Mayday Hospital, and Michael Booker was my consultant then. Back in those days he was just an ordinary gynaecologist and I don't think he had specialised in IVF at that time.  I really don't understand why anything that has happened with anyone else should affect how you feel about him   Until you read this, you thought he was a wonderful doctor - the fact that you found out yesterday that he has had a warning from the GMC doesn't change how he has treated you in the past, or thousands of other women.  Doctors are human and like all of us, can make mistakes; but mistakes have rather more serious consequences when you're dealing with someone's health.

When I read your post, I thought it was going to be a link to an article saying that he had behaved like the American doctor in an IVF clinic a few years ago who had used his own sperm for his patients!  Now that WOULD be something that would concern me! 

I think you should hold on to your wonderful experience of this doctor LB, as others have said, and try not to let any thing else tarnish your memory. Forewarned is forearmed, so if you ever found yourself in need of him again in the future then this information would be useful, but in retrospect is irrelevant.
I've been in and out of hospitals with my oldest son for just over 11 years, and I stopped seeing doctors as superhuman ages ago. It also helps that I have a brother who is a doctor (obs/gynae too) and he can be a complete numpty in his personal life.

I'm not saying I 'have' been betrayed Isadora I'm saying that's the feeling I am feeling which like I said is pretty random. It's like being friends with someone for years and then finding out that they'd done something shocking years down the line... It takes a bit of getting used to in your head. I had Mr Booker so high on a pedestal for so many years and thought he could do no wrong and for me he was wonderful but then I read this and I feel like he's not the person I know. It's hard to believe that he was as negligent as that woman is saying he was. She sounds so bitter and angry (I can understand to some degree) but she's not going to stop until she's had him struck off by the looks of it.

Ive had a sleep and more of a think about it and feel less upset as I did last night. Still a bit shocked though.

Growly - This shocked me to the core when I heard about it! Until I had my baby it worried me that some jiggery pokery might have gone on at my clinic... Most people I know who've had IVF have this fear at some point.

What did you think of Mr Booker? How old is Growly Jr?

What has pissed me off is that one person on that forum has said he's 'ONLY' a gynaecologist! ONLY??? Like 'Only' a bin man or 'only' a road sweeper... There is nothing 'only' about his work!

Of course he's not only a gynaecologist, in the same way he only helped in your quest for motherhood....but LB he is only a man. There is always many facets to everyone, and while you see someone great and magnificent, someone else has seen incompetence and a man who 'dropped the ball' and screwed up royally. If his peers at the GMC have found him negligent then it's not my place to dismiss it....but it doesn't and shouldn't take away from the affection you clearly have for him 

actually.... I think feeling betrayed is almost a normal reaction...    when the investigation on the Obs&Gyne Consultant at our hospital hit the papers, patients of his that respected him either reacted angrily at his dismissal or...  rang the hospital in a very similar state to the one you were in last night.

As part of protocol for these incidents we had set up a helpline in anticipation of such reactions.

LB 

... add to that that this is a hugely sensitive area for you, and that you are in a delicate state anyway... 

I think your feelings are normal under the circumstances.

I wish your mum had 'kept mum' about it... but I assume she meant well (my mum is always doing or saying things that she thinks are for my benefit, but often leave me gutted or gobsmacked!)

Can I ask I have only had time to have a quick read a quick google.

Is it actually totally true?  Have you asked the GMC if its true.

Lazybug, I wouldn't put too much credence on what one person's opinion on an anonymous forum.  People see things differently depending on what side of the fence they are sitting.  Your experience was brilliant and that's what is important.

Doctors aren't gods - they depend on not only their own background and judgement when making a diagnosis, but also on what blood tests and nursing staff tell them.  Not to mention the patient themself. 

My consultant is brilliant, but that's because I have made such improvement.  Other patients of his absolutely loathe him because they haven't made much improvement.  It's easy to blame someone else (in this case your consultant) because their treatment wasn't outstanding.  Yours was.  That's what is important.

lazybug we all make mistakes and so did he.Yes what this person endured must have been a nightmare but that same man who through negligence helped create a nightmare for one, has made precious dreams come true for you and many others...Hold onto your dream.

Growly Jnr is nearly 18 now.  I found Mr Booker nice enough, and he happened to be around when Jnr was born and there were complications.   I'm afraid I can't see anything wrong in referring to him as 'only' a gynaecologist.  He is clearly an intelligent man who has used his intelligence to have a career in medicine.  That doesn't make him any better than a bin man, or anyone else, and I would have no more or less respect for Mr Booker than I would the man who empties my bin each week.  It means that he had the good fortune to be born with enough intelligence and the family circumstances which gave him the motivation to study for a career in medicine.  I realise that you feel you owe him a debt of gratitude for helping you to have your baby, but he is still human and can make mistakes like everyone else.

Dear Lazybug,

 

I've stumbled upon your post whilst googling Mr Booker. I am the author of the MRSA forum post your mother sent you. I understand you posted this three years on, so you may not get to read this. If my mother didn't escape going under his knife in one day's time due to a clerical error, I wouldn't have googled him 13 years after my friend suffered, and I wouldn't be writing this either. Thirteen years ago to this day, well this month is the 13th anniversary of that nightmare that started in July 28th in Shirley Oaks Hospital and climaxed with being rushed to St George's Hospital in Tooting's A&E on August 18th where good surgeons saved her life but had to debride extensively to do so. Recuperation is still ongoing.

 

His medical negligence continued for almost one month - it was not one momentary lack of proper judgement. Leaving someone undiagnosed with a massive spreading infection of necrotizing fasciitis for three weeks was something the General Medical Council (GMC) took very seriously which is why they gave him a 5-year warning for medical negligence. That is not an opinion, Suzi-Q, but a legal fact backed up by boxes of files of official evidence which were due to be presented at the Royal Courts of Justice in  London's Strand. Like most cases, this one was settled out of court so as to not set a legal precedence. 

 

The results of this neglect are catastrophic, and have got worse over the passing. years - both physical and mental trauma.

 

 

The GMC should make public access much easier on their website and historical rulings should still be viewed with ease long after the period of a warning has passed. Knowledge is power, after all. Currently, I am just helping my friend cope with the injury, one day at a time, it's not been easy but there's always hope.

 

 

I don't think Lazybug posts here any more AS , but hopefully someone who is still around may be in contact with her , and will tell her

... just to reply to Karma_ regarding why not ask for a second opinion. Mr Booker had that sown up, he said he spoke to a microbiologist at Mayday regarding what antibiotics should be used to treat this 'haematoma', and he told us that the wound would get bigger before it got smaller. He wanted to be in charge. It was a private hospital so you really are under your private surgeon and not the hospital. In an NHS hospital you can get help from other specialists as you haven't made a financial arrangement with one specialist. 

 

Finally on August 18th 2000, Mr Donohue, a plastic surgeon, went to visit with Mr Booker (Donohue was having out patients appointments at the ground floor of the hospital - to think there were other doctors Mr Booker could have called upon just one floor away over the last three weeks but he chose not to). Mr Booker wanted to get Mr Donohue's opinion on skin grafting as he had no experience. He also organised a psychiatrist as he put my friend's inability to walk down to a mental state of mind (she was raging in pain not insanity, screaming the hospital down).  Mr Donohue arrived first and arranged emergency transfer to St Georges where Mr Gately, another plastic surgeon, saved her life later that same day. We were all told that she may not make it but fortunately she kept fighting, even after three weeks of relentless fighting without any pain relief.

Thanks, Baz. I'll leave it up to you to decide whether to bring this to her attention if she no longer uses this forum. I just felt a pull to post after reading this thread. It may help others understand, though this post and its thread are quite old now.  

I'm not actually in contact AS but I'm sure there are those who perhaps are .....

I read this with my legs crossed

l

A lot of old faces/memories in that thread. Sad that they don't post here anymore.

 

RIP SuzyQ.

I thought exactly the same When reading this Soozy

I would agree Soozy the majority of contributors to this thread no longer post. And seeing SuziQs post made me feel so sad. A fabulous FM, and one who I truly miss.

I wish Karma would come back ...............she was great - sometimes a sting in her tail too - I liked that.

LB, that is awful! As others have said concentrate on the miracles he gave you, and stay positive.