A Sri Lankan surgeon banned from operating at a children’s heart unit in UK at the centre of a scandal over high death rates was previously investigated over his practice.

Nihal Weerasena is the doctor who agreed to stop carrying out operations at Leeds General Infirmary in West Yorkshire, England two weeks ago while bosses investigated concerns over his abilities.

But Dr Weerasena also previously stood aside in 2005 after the hospital identified problems relating to a procedure he was carrying out to repair a congenital heart defect.

The hospital, which then had concerns over Dr Weerasena’s success rates with the procedure, asked the Royal College of Surgeons to carry out a review of his practice.

Dr Weerasena, 59, no longer carries out the specific procedure at the hospital but has been allowed to remain part of the paediatric cardiac surgery team at Leeds.

His latest suspension was revealed by The Mail on Sunday two weeks ago but the hospital has refused to confirm his identity – even though he stepped aside just before all surgery was halted at the unit over fears the death rate was twice the national average. The unit is set to reopen next week if hospital chiefs can convince NHS officials that there are no safety concerns.

One mother is demanding a fresh investigation into her seven-year-old daughter’s death after learning of the concerns raised about Dr Weerasena.

Mrs Burton, 39, a civil servant from York, lost Eve – her only child – after a third operation for a congenital heart condition in March last year which was carried out by the surgeon.

Eve had an initial operation in 2005 at just ten weeks old to insert a donor artery, and needed regular follow-ups and further surgery as she grew. A second operation in December 2009 was also a success. Neither operation involved the procedure that had been investigated by the Royal College of Surgeons and neither involved Dr Weerasena.

However, he did carry out the third operation last year when Eve died hours after a procedure to replace her artery led to the failure of a heart valve.

Mrs Burton said: ‘I knew the surgery would be risky but it certainly wasn’t spelled out that she might not make it. I did ask Dr Weerasena for the success rates of the operation and he told me he was unable to do so.

‘I kissed Eve and told her I would see her later. But after being in surgery all day, he came out and told me there had been complications and a heart valve had burst under the pressure.’

Mrs Burton held several meetings with Dr Weerasena but says she still does not understand why her daughter died.

Dr Weerasena trained at the University of Rajasthan in India and qualified in 1978. He has been working at Leeds General Infirmary for more than ten years.

Asked if he was the surgeon who had been suspended, he said: ‘You need to speak to the trust.’

A spokesman for Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust refused to confirm the surgeon’s identity. However, he added: ‘The reason the surgeon stopped working was nothing to do with mortality rates or children’s heart surgery.’

Commenting on the 2005 investigation, the trust said its findings were implemented in full and the surgeon voluntarily decided not to undertake the particular procedure in future. – The Daily Mail