Tragic Death of Nine-Year-Old Boy Following Surgery by Suspended Surgeon
A nine-year-old boy endured unimaginable suffering and ultimately died after being operated on by a surgeon who had already been suspended from practice. Jack Moate passed away just two months following a surgical procedure performed by Kuldeep Stohr at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge back in 2015.
Mother's Heartbreaking Account of Pressure and Pain
Elizabeth Moate, Jack's devastated mother, has revealed that she initially resisted consenting to the operation due to her son's complex medical conditions. "I did not want to go ahead with the operation," she stated, "but I felt pressured to give my consent." Jack suffered from multiple health challenges that limited his mobility and left him able to communicate only through facial expressions.
The surgery resulted in significant blood loss during the procedure, and Jack was discharged despite being in continuous, severe pain. "They sent my boy home, and he died in agony," Elizabeth Moate recounted, describing how her son arrived home "crying and screaming" with pain.
Systemic Failures and Missed Red Flags
Independent medical experts who recently reviewed Jack's case as part of a broader investigation into Kuldeep Stohr's practice expressed significant concerns about the operation. They determined that the procedure "carried significant risks" given Jack's fragile condition and noted that no imaging was conducted before his discharge.
A subsequent scan revealed that the surgery had failed completely, leaving the surgical site "unhealed and unstable." Jack's official cause of death was recorded as deep vein thrombosis, cerebral palsy, and epilepsy, with his case now referred to the coroner for further investigation.
Surgeon's Troubled History and Institutional Failures
Sky News previously revealed that Kuldeep Stohr had been suspended after colleagues raised alarms about her surgical practices. Shockingly, a 2015 report—years before her suspension—had already highlighted serious issues with some of her patients. A subsequent investigation found that deficiencies in her practice went unchecked, allowing her to continue operating on hundreds more children.
"I can't believe that Ms Stohr was unaware of the damage she had done," Elizabeth Moate said. "I'll never be able to forgive the hospital for what happened." She expressed being "appalled" at Addenbrooke's handling of her son's case, adding: "To me, it is all about trying their best to protect their reputation, but that reputation is now unsalvageable."
Legal Action and Institutional Response
Elizabeth Maliakal, the family's lawyer from Hudgell Solicitors, has requested a meeting with Health Secretary Wes Streeting and called for a statutory inquiry. "Addenbrooke's is sadly not alone when it comes to inadequate clinical oversight and governance resulting in patients coming to harm," she noted.
Dr. Sue Broster, chief medical officer at Cambridge University Hospitals, offered "unreserved apologies for the failings in Jack's care" on behalf of the trust. She confirmed that all details of Jack's care have been passed to the coroner and that an external retrospective clinical review led by Andrew Kennedy KC into patients treated by Kuldeep Stohr remains ongoing.
The trust has committed to publishing a summary of the review findings once all cases have been examined and discussed with affected families, vowing to implement improvements to prevent similar tragedies in the future.
