The distraught Shropshire mother of a woman who died after an operation to cure her excessive sweating went wrong has told how it took five years to get an apology from one of the doctors involved.

Louise Field, whose parents Patricia and Philip Green live in Newport, died two days after anaesthetist Dr Wasfy Yanny failed to act on brain damage she had suffered during the routine operation at a private Bupa hospital, a General Medical Council hearing heard.

Dr Yanny yesterday kept his job after offering a series of “undertakings”.

It was vascular surgeon Michael Ormiston who accidentally punctured 27-year-old Mrs Field’s lung during the procedure at the Bupa Hospital in Harpenden, Herts, the hearing was told.

Her oxygen levels fatally dipped but consultant anaesthetist Dr Yanny failed to do anything, the General Medical Council heard.

Dr Yanny “knew or ought to have known” that brain damage was inevitable as he even pumped her full of drugs to try to reverse the condition.

When the trainee accountant was rushed to another hospital, Dr Yanny gave no indication she might have neurological problems – likely to be caused due to a lack of oxygen.

He also failed to inform the specialist registrar at Hemel Hempstead General Hospital about the drugs given or provide an anaesthetic chart. Mr and Mrs Green, after the hearing, said they still did not know the truth about the death of their daughter in March 2002.

Mr Green said: “We came here to find out what happened. We will probably never find out the actual nitty gritty of what went wrong.”

Mrs Green added: “It took five years to get an apology through his (Dr Yanny’s) solicitors.”

The GMC yesterday concluded Dr Yanny had committed “serious breaches” of good medical practice, but allowed him to continue working.

The GMC panel ruled his conduct fell “below the standard expected of a medical practitioner”, which Dr Yanny had denied.

He was cleared of charges that his clinical procedures were incorrect and of dishonesty over a failure to discuss Mrs Field’s brain damage with colleagues.

By Lisa Rowley