When Theresa Mallett walked into Caird Hall in Dundee a little more than a fortnight ago, it was not her intention to bring Humza Yousaf’s keynote address to a standstill.
Mallett, a committed nationalist, was attending the independence convention as an SNP member, but had hoped that she might tell her story to a party worker or journalist at the event.
She claims she has been in “soul-destroying” pain for more than a decade since a botched sciatica operation performed by Sam Eljamel, a disgraced surgeon from Tayside. Mallett is one of 118 former patients calling for a public inquiry into what they believe is years of negligence, cover-ups and bad governance.
When the first minister got up to speak, she decided to do the same.
“I was listening to Humza and he came out with something like ‘every person in Scotland counts’,” said Mallett, 61, as though still incredulous at what she did next. “I felt enraged and I just started shouting at him. Eleven years of trauma and pain, getting no answers, gaslit by doctors – that all came out.”
The Guardian, 10th July 2023 – archived below for public information. Copyright remains with The Guardian. Full online article here.