A gran who lives with a condition so painful it’s dubbed “the suicide disease” fears she will never see justice after butcher surgeon Sam Eljamel left her in lifelong agony.
Margaret Fraser, from Buckhaven, Fife, lives with pain so severe it hurts to smile, talk and eat and play with her grandkids after the shamed medic botched an op to treat her Trigeminal neuralgia, a chronic condition causing severe electric shock-like pain on one side of the face.
The 63-year-old was ecstatic when she was told the former head of neurosurgery at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee was going to operate on her after years living with the disease.
But after a painful failed op, another procedure by Eljamel to inject an acid into her face in 2013 went horribly wrong, leaving her in excruciating pain, unable to see and hear properly.
She is still living with the effects 13 years on – relying on medication every two hours to get by.
Gran-of-three Margaret spoke out after it emerged that the surgeon – who is accused of maiming her and hundreds of other patients – is unlikely to ever be brought back to face justice in Scotland after a major public inquiry hit more delays.
View 6 ImagesButcher brain surgeon Sam Eljamel(Image: cascadenews.co.uk)
She told the Record: “My illness gets called the suicide disease because the pain is so bad not a lot of people can deal with it. Eljamel went on to make that even worse.
“That operation totally changed my life in every way. No matter what I do the pain is there – 24/7. Even smiling hurts.
“It’s been 13 years now since that botched operation. Acid has gone into my face so it’s totally damaged the nerves. It’s irreparable. They just keep trying to manage the pain.
“I’ve tried every medication, trials at the hospital. I’m on more than 40 tablets and morphine liquid and that just takes the very edge off it. It’s horrible. I don’t have any quality of life.
“Nobody is taking any accountability for anything and we’re not getting any answers. Every part of it is traumatic. I just feel like giving up because we keep getting knock back after knock back. I know I’m going to suffer for the rest of my life.”
View 6 ImagesMargaret endured painful ops in a bid to ease pain caused by Eljamel(Image: Daily Record)
The Trigeminal Neuralgia Association UK says the condition is regarded as the most painful condition that is known in the medical world and is often known as “the suicide disease”. It affects the trigeminal nerve, which carries sensation from your brain to your face.
Mum-of-two Margaret had already tried a string of failed treatments when she met Eljamel in 2010. She thought the medic would help change her life.
She said: “I knew Prof Eljamel was supposed to be the top brain surgeon. When I heard he was going to be my surgeon I was overjoyed. I actually cried and so did my mum because we were so happy and grateful. I was taking everything he told me as a given.”
Margaret underwent her first surgery in 2011, which involves placing teflon between the blood vessels pressing against a cranial nerve to ease pressure.
She said: “The next day he told me he never put the teflon in. He said he had massaged the nerve. He never gave me an explanation. I thought he must know what he’s doing. But the amount of people I’ve spoken to since, I’ve never found anyone else who he has never had the teflon in. It didn’t help at all.”
View 6 ImagesMargaret has undergone countless treatments in a bid to ease her pain
Margaret then underwent a chemical procedure to inject glycerol into the trigeminal nerve, which helped manage her pain for a couple of months.
The following year she tried a procedure using heat generated by an electrical current, but the effects were again short lived so she opened for another glycerol injection in 2013.
She said: “When I woke up in the morning I couldn’t bear the pain in my face. I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t see out of my eye or hear.
“He saw me as an emergency appointment because the pain was horrendous a few weeks later. He said he had misplaced the needle so the glycerol hadn’t gone to the bottom of the brain stem – it had leaked to other places. It had left the nerves in my face shattered. He was so matter of fact .
“He said the numbness would wear off and the pain would calm down. I found out that was a lie because what I was left with never goes away.”
Margaret later found out Eljamel was already being investigated over complaints. She said: “I thought it was just my luck. It was a few years later that I realised I wasn’t alone.
“I then discovered he had also lied in my medical notes. My first operation, when the letter went back to my doctor said the operation was successful, but he didn’t complete it.
“He said everything went well with the one he botched and I just had a little bit of facial numbness and a blurry eye, but in reality I was in agony, blind and deaf. If I’d known he was under investigation there was no way I’d have had any other operations done.”
View 6 ImagesMargaret now lives in sheltered housing and has a carer(Image: Daily Record)
A public inquiry is being held over concerns that Eljamel harmed as many as 200 people, leaving some with lifelong injuries. He was head of neurosurgery at Ninewells from 1995 until his suspension in December 2013.
The surgeon resigned from his post in May 2014 and removed himself from the General Medical Register in 2015. He is since understood to have returned to Libya to practise.
The inquiry, which will take at least another five years to complete, has been set back by fire safety concerns at the Edinburgh venue.
And in recent days Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain told campaigners that despite possible criminal charges “under consideration”, no case would be heard in Eljamel’s absence.
Margaret tried more treatment under a new neurologist to ease the pain caused by Eljamel, including brain simulators, but nothing has worked. She has given a statement to police and was determined to attend protests around the Eljamel case until a stroke last year.
She said: “I had to give my house up and move back in with my mum. I lost her two years ago and I’m now in sheltered housing and have a carer. I barely go out.
“Since the operation I haven’t been able to have my grandchildren to stay. I’ve missed out on all the normal stuff grannies do.
View 6 ImagesEljamel can no longer practise as a surgeon in the UK(Image: Universal News And Sport (Europe))
“I don’t feel hopeful for the future about finding anything that’s going to help after all this time.
“We thought we we’re getting somewhere when they announced the public inquiry, then you see how long that has taken, as well as the police investigation.
“I don’t think I can even say out loud how I feel about him. To hear he is unlikely to face justice here is just another kick in the teeth.
“He should be jailed but he will never be extradited. He should never have been allowed to go and operate on other people in another country after what he’s done. How long is this going to go on for? It just feels like it never ends.”
An NHS Tayside spokeswoman said: “We cannot comment on individual cases due to patient confidentiality.
“We would encourage any former patient who has concerns about Mr Eljamel to contact the NHS Tayside Patient Liaison Response Team on tay.patientliaisonresponse@nhs.scot
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“NHS Tayside is participating fully in The Eljamel Inquiry and its hearings.”
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