London Doctor Suspended For Six Months For Falling Asleep During Operation

A London anaesthetist has been suspended for six months for falling asleep in an operating theatre during surgery.

Dr. Thomas Herbst, a consultant anaesthetist, is said to have fallen into a “deep sleep” after anaesthetising a patient during a shoulder arthroscopy procedure on September 27, 2022 at South West London Elective Orthopaedic Centre.

A Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) hearing was told that Dr. Herbst, 61, only woke up after being tapped on the shoulder by another anaesthetist, named Dr. A.

Dr. A told the hearing: “I was working in another theatre when a nurse from Dr Herbst’s theatre asked me to come and speak with him to see if the anaesthetised patient was okay.

“Whilst doing so, I found Dr Herbst asleep. When I called his name I did not receive a verbal response and I said: ‘Dr can you hear me – open your eyes’ in an attempt to wake him.

“He was in a deep sleep and he only woke up after I repeatedly tapped him on his shoulder.”

A theatre support assistant, named as Ms B, said she had seen Dr Herbst asleep next to the anaesthetist machine while the surgeon was “putting ‘knife to skin.

After waking up, the tribunal heard that Dr Herbst was “speaking incoherently” and “unable to complete his sentences”.

Shortly after the incident, Dr Herbst sent an email to his responsible officer, a doctor who monitors colleagues on behalf of the General Medical Council (GMC), explaining that he was “rather tired after spending most of the night doing my tax return”.

Dr Herbst, from East Sheen, told the tribunal that he had been “unwell” on the morning of the procedure and that “in hindsight” should not have attended work, but only did so as he “did not want patients to have their operation cancelled.