orthohub stories: David Sellu

orthohub see one do one

David Sellu (https://www.davidsellu.com) was a respected colorectal surgeon with a record of over 40 years of outstanding medical service. He saved countless lives over 4 decades of practice, but then one patient encounter changed his life forever when a patient died under his care in February 2010. He was investigated by the GMC and then tried at the Old Bailey, where he was charged and convicted of gross negligence manslaughter in 2013.
Many of the complexities of the case were not adequately explained or explored to the jury, and he was convicted by a jury with a majority of 10-2. He was jailed in a maximum security prison at the age of 66 and served 15 months of a two-and-a-half year prison sentence. His conviction was later quashed on appeal after major failings were discovered regarding his first trial.
His story is one that sent shockwaves throughout medicine and has implications for every doctor.
This conversation uncovers his early years in Sierra Leone where he received no formal education and taught himself how to read and write, often studying under street-lamps for illumination. He went on to win a scholarship to Manchester Medical School, become a Senior Lecturer in Surgery at Hammersmith Hospital and a Consultant General and Colorectal Surgeon in Oman and London.
It is a story that encompasses a stellar career, medical error and blame culture, injustice, the brutality of life in prison, the battle to overturn his conviction and clear his name, and the ongoing fight to make sure this never happens again.

Chapters

1. 1. introduction (00:00:00)

2. 2. childhood (00:01:38)

3. 3. scholarship to medical school (00:05:46)

4. 4. postgraduate surgical training (00:07:20)

5. 5. consultant appointment (00:09:48)

6. 6. clinical encounter (00:12:38)

7. 7. systemic errors & the Swiss cheese effect (00:16:57)

8. 8. initial GMC investigation (00:18:29)

9. 9. coroner's inquest (00:21:48)

10. 10. GMC suspension (00:25:37)

11. 11. justice delayed is justice denied (00:27:14)

12. 12. the court trial (00:28:50)

13. 13. the verdict (00:39:15)

14. 14. defensive medicine (00:44:00)

15. 15. life in a category A prison (00:50:15)

16. 16. transfer to open prison (00:55:28)

17. 17. first night at home on day release (00:56:48)

18. 18. receiving medical care as a prisoner (00:59:19)

19. 19. dealings with the British Medical Association (01:01:53)

20. 20. release from prison (01:03:51)

21. 21. the appeal (01:04:50)

22. 22. the case of Hadiza Bawa-Garba (01:09:36)

23. 23. the role of the expert witness (01:11:03)

24. 24. who pays the price of injustice? (01:14:36)

25. 25. GMC conviction overturned (01:16:00)

26. 26. the GMC and race (01:18:10)

27. 27. the criminalisation of medical error (01:21:47)

28. 28. is the law the best way to treat medical error (01:25:13)

29. 29. need for a safe space (whistleblowers and scapegoats) (01:26:10)

30. 30. would you do medicine again? (01:28:18)

31. 31. has anything positive come out of this? (01:31:45)

32. 32. raising awareness & driving change (01:35:27)