A SURGEON who botched an operation on a Blackburn council worker also made mistakes with another patient who died the day after surgery, a medical hearing was told.

The General Medical Council heard how Julian Mason mistakenly used a laser 'like a saw' to cut into a major artery in the neck of the 43-year-old woman patient.

The same surgeon also left a Blackburn with Darwen Council social worker with a large red scar after removing the wrong lumps in her neck, the inquiry heard.

The woman, Miss VL, 27, said she feared the worst because her father had an operation to remove a cancer in the same area.

Mason, 38, has admitted his treatment of VL on November 12, 1999, was inappropriate and unsatisfactory but denies he was irresponsible.

He is accused of irresponsible and inappropriate treatment of 13 patients while he was laser protection supervisor in the Ear, Nose and Throat department at the Royal Bolton Hospital in 1998 and 1999.

He was also caught drinking on call three times and allegedly failed to respond to his on-call bleeper because he was a watching a Manchester United match at Old Trafford, the hearing was told

The 43-year-old woman patient, referred to as WW, had a long history of throat problems and was referred to Mason because she had tasted blood at the back of her throat.

On November 30, 1999, Mason carried out surgery using a laser to seal blood vessels on the woman's tongue.

Expert Brian Bingham, from the Glasgow Victoria Infirmary, said it seemed the surgeon had failed to understand the action of the laser.

"If you were to put it hard up against something it will apply a great deal of energy. You are almost using it like a saw. The further away, the less energy you produce. To coagulate tissue you would normally be two to four millimetres from the actual vessels you are trying to coagulate."

He said it was a typical response of an 'uncertain' laser operation to press the laser into the source of the bleeding to control it.

Following the operation, WW's throat began to swell and the next day she began bleeding from the mouth. She died, despite efforts to clear blood from her mouth.

It is claimed that Mason failed to record the levels of energy used by the laser and failed to identify the source of bleeding or ensure the patient was reviewed. The committee heard that Dr Mason is now working in psychiatry at the Fairmile Hospital, Oxfordshire.

Dr Mason of Essex Street, Newbury, Berks denies serious professional misconduct.

The hearing continues.