Elderly Woman Dies After Ex-Security Guard Poses as Surgeon and Operates on Her

An elderly woman is dead after being operated on by an ex-security officer who posed as a surgeon.

According to The Guardian, 80-year-old Shameema Begum passed away on Sunday, two weeks after Muhammad Waheed Butt allegedly pretended to be a doctor. He performed surgery on her at Lahore’s Mayo hospital in Pakistan. It is unclear what type of surgery she was having.

Begum’s family compensated Butt for the operation as well as future home follow-up visits. Unfortunately, the woman’s bleeding and discomfort got worse following the surgery. This prompted her family to bring her back to the hospital. It was during this second visit that they discovered what had taken place. What makes the incident even more troubling is that a licensed technician was present during the surgery but did not notice anything wrong.

“We can’t keep up with what every doctor and what everyone is doing at all times. It’s a large hospital,” explained an administrative official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

A spokesperson for the Lahore police confirmed that Butt had been detained. He has a track record of posing as a physician and visited other patients at their homes before Begum’s death. According to the staff at the hospital, Butt was a former employee who was fired for attempting to extort money from patients. He was arrested for this last month.

An autopsy is scheduled to determine if Begum’s death was the result of the botched procedure.