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One of prominent surgeon Munjed Al Muderis’ patients wrote to him more than a year after her operation telling him she was suffering increasing pain and had “no life at all”, the Federal Court was told on Tuesday.
Al Muderis, clinical professor at Macquarie University, is suing The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and 60 Minutes over reports published and aired in September 2022. He alleges the reports convey a range of defamatory meanings, including that he negligently performed osseointegration surgery, and provided inadequate aftercare.
Surgeon Munjed Al Muderis, with his barrister Sue Chrysanthou, SC, (left) and partner Claudia Roberts on Monday.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos
Nine, owner of the media outlets, is seeking to rely on a range of defences including a new public interest defence, truth, and honest opinion.
Carol Todd underwent osseointegration surgery in May 2014. This involves inserting titanium pins into the residual bone of an amputee, which allows prosthetic limbs to be connected.
In July 2015, according to evidence provided to the court, Todd emailed Al Muderis complaining she felt conversations with the famed surgeon after her operation had been “unsatisfactory”.
“I find I get no response to my questions when I call you,” she wrote, according to an email shown to the court. “The truth is, I don’t feel you are taking my problem seriously.
“I have been in constant pain since I have had this procedure. Having this done was to prevent me being in a wheel chain [sic]. It was to change my life, well it sure has I now have no life at all … I cannot do the things I used to do because I’m in pain no matter what I do.”
Under cross-examination from Dr Matt Collins, KC, acting for the news outlets, Al Muderis said he had responded to Todd in a timely manner and “managed her complaints and complications on a regular basis”.
“I provided Mrs Todd with osseointegration surgery that to my knowledge has been successful, and she’d been mobile [after the surgery],” Al Muderis told the court.
At the time Todd made her statement, Al Muderis said, she had undergone an objective assessment of mobility and “scored very well on that”.
“I acknowledge her concerns and I have addressed them,” he said. “I can’t deal with the feelings, I need to deal with the facts … I try my best, I strive to provide the service for my patients, and I believe that Miss Todd has been managed throughout her journey with osseointegration appropriately.”
Al Muderis said Todd’s surgery had been successful, but gave evidence she had developed a known side effect of surgery – which she was warned about – in an infection.
“I can’t comment on people giving her different advice [and] I can’t comment on her feelings. All I can do is to provide the patient with the best care to the best of my ability which I believe that I have done.”
Also during cross-examination on Tuesday, Collins raised allegations in witness Chris Bruha’s affidavit, which claimed Bruha had been left with a “gaping hole” in his right leg after the medical team initially made a surgical incision in the wrong place.
“Dr Al Muderis ultimately cut at a lower point on my right leg because I understand he was trying to save as much bone as possible,” Collins read from the affidavit.
Al Muderis rejected this. “It’s not true,” he said. “I did not make a cut above that level. That was a fracture blister that occurred after the surgery. It’s a clear fracture blister. You have a picture of it, it’s showing a fracture blister. That is what it is. That is not a surgical incision.”
The hearing in the Federal Court in Sydney, before Justice Wendy Abraham, continues.
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