A WOMAN claims she was left paralysed from the neck down after a botched herniated disk operation.
Emily Robertson, 45, said she “skipped into hospital” in March 2012, but after surgery on herniated discs in her neck she was paralysed from the neck down.
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Even though the paralysis was temporary, lasting damage caused by her spinal cord being partially severed has left her wheelchair-bound.
Emily, who currently lives near Coupar Angus in Perth and Kinross, has been battling for 12 years for answers.
Although I had compression on the spinal cord I literally skipped into hospital. There was nothing wrong with me
Emily Robertson
When she tried to complain, she was told as she had signed a consent form warning her operation could result in paralysis.
Prior to her surgery, Emily had suffered from stiffness to her neck and headaches for two years.
In desperation, she begged her GP for “as many tests as possible” to be carried out.
After being referred to a rheumatologist and neurologist, Emily was told she had herniated discs in her neck and she should see a neurosurgeon.
Emily said she was told: “If you sneeze or trip over your own feet you could end up paralysed and there would be nothing we could do about it.”
I’ll never forget the look of pity on that man’s face
Emily Robertson
The mum was scheduled for surgery in March 2012, around two months later.
Emily said: “Although I had compression on the spinal cord I literally skipped into Ninewells Hospital. There was nothing wrong with me.
“But I woke up after that surgery paralysed from the neck down.”
When she awoke there were a lot of medical staff around her bed.
Her neurosurgeon poked her toes before before delivering the devastating news she paralysed.
She said: “His eyes were starting to get a bit watery and he said ‘look Emily you are paralysed’. I’ll never forget the look of pity on that man’s face.”
A couple of hours later she managed to twitch her big right toe.
She continued: “Over the next hour I thought I was starting to get feeling back but I wasn’t.
“I couldn’t feel pain or temperature on the right side of my body but I had movement to an extent.
“My left side was still completely paralysed.”
Her neurosurgeon was out of the country the following day but Emily now believes one of the doctors that visited her was Sam Eljamel.
The disgraced brain surgeon at the centre of a Scottish government probe is believed to have harmed dozens of patients at NHS Tayside, leaving some with life-changing injuries.
Migraines sufferer Leann Sutherland, 34, accused the neurosurgeon treating her like a “guinea pig” when she had surgery at Ninewells Hospital.
Feeling returned to Emily’s left side within a couple of days, but she still wasn’t able to move.
After that she suffered spasticity – a condition causing the muscles to stiffen and tighten – which left her in extreme pain and unable to use the left side of her body.
She was discharged from hospital just five days after her operation, but the spasticity remains to this day, she said.
They took my life away and did nothing to try to fix it
Emily Robertson
During a conversation with another neurosurgeon six years later, she learned she had a scar on her spinal cord from a “hemi section” – a term used to describe the partial severing of the cord on one side, which apparently happened during her surgery.
Emily applied to see her medical notes but claims she was given an incomplete record and the notes on her operation were missing.
To this day, she has no idea how it happened or who was present.
She said: “I have never been given an answer to why my spinal cord was severed.
“My 20-year-old son, my youngest, doesn’t remember me as an able bodied person and that’s the hardest thing for me.”
And she stated: “They took my life away and did nothing to try to fix it.”
Police officers intended to speak to her as part of the Eljamel inquiry.
An NHS Tayside spokesperson said: “We do not comment on matters relating to individual members of staff.”
They continued: ”We would encourage any former patient who has concerns about Professor Eljamel to contact the NHS Tayside Patient Liaison Response Team for support with their enquiry.”
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