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A surgeon who was accused of consuming alcohol while on duty and injuring a patient’s bowel during an operation has been suspended for 12 months.
Dr Aleksandras Uzkalnis was practising as a Surgical Consultant in General Surgery at University Hospital Lewisham at the time of the accusations.
A Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service misconduct hearing revealed Dr Uzkalnis was issued with a warning by the General Medical Council, which regulates doctors, in September 2023 after he was convicted of drink driving.
Six months later, in February 2024, Dr Uzkalnis was accused of “smelling of alcohol during the surgery” by another doctor. He was also accused of abandoning surgeries and causing harm to patients that same day.
The misconduct hearing revealed Dr Uzkalnis was supervising a junior colleague while he was conducting a laparoscopic cholecystectomy — surgery to remove the gallbladder. It was alleged by the GMC that Dr Uzkalnis failed to scrub in and take over from the junior colleague before making the decision to abandon the procedure.
The tribunal indicated that the consultant surgeon should have taken over if the procedure was deemed too difficult for the specialist registrar and that abandoning the procedure without taking over, when only a camera port had been inserted, was “inadequate”.
Later that day, Dr Uzkalnis was supervising another doctor who was operating on a patient listed for a spigelian hernia repair.
Another junior colleague who was present said Dr Uzkalnis took over the surgery but failed to stop when it became clear that the patient did not have a spigelian hernia, instead continuing and opening the peritoneal cavity that lines the abdominal wall. The patient then suffered an injury to the small bowel.
Dr Uzkalnis then passed on the procedure to the doctor he was supervising and said “this is your operation” before leaving the theatre.
Evidence given against Dr Uzkalnis suggested he did not take “adequate care” during the procedure and highlighted that due to the complexity of the case, and the fact that he had personally caused the injuries to the small bowel, Dr Uzkalnis should have stayed to complete the operation or stayed to supervise.
Dr Uzkalnis admitted he left the doctor he was supervising to finish the surgery, saying: “When I left [Dr D] to finish the surgery, I went to my office then I made coffee…”
Following the surgery, the hearing found Dr Uzkalnis did not discuss the complications with the patient or their family, or apologise to them. A witness said: “This represents care seriously below the expected standard.”
Dr Uzkalnis also admitted to drinking alcohol whilst on duty that day. In his Trust investigation interview, he said he went into his office and put “brandy in his coffee”, which he consumed after leaving the doctor he was supervising to complete the surgery.
However, other doctors gave witness statements indicating they could smell alcohol during the surgery. The tribunal noted this could possibly be explained by other events such as alcohol consumption the day before. There was also no evidence he had consumed alcohol prior to operating; only that he drank alcohol on duty, the tribunal heard.
Allegations that Dr Uzkalnis drank alcohol on duty, injured a patient’s bowel, abandoned a procedure and left the operating theatre during a surgery were proven by the tribunal panel. Following the findings, Dr Uzkalnis has been suspended for 12 months from 15 October.