TWO surgeons, including a former Burnley General Hospital doctor, who removed the wrong kidney from a patient who later died have been found guilty of serious professional misconduct and suspended for 12 months.

Korean War veteran John Graham Reeves had his good left kidney removed instead of his chronically-diseased right one at the Prince Philip Hospital in Llanelli, South Wales, on January 24, 2000.

He died five weeks later despite two more operations and emergency dialysis.

Earlier this week the General Medical Council in London ruled that medical registrar Mahesh Goel - a former Burnley General Hospital doctor who has since returned to India - and consultant urologist John Gethin Roberts, from Swansea, andhad wrongly removed the patient's organ. The GMC yesterday found the pair guilty of serious professional misconduct and suspended them for 12 months.

Both Mr Roberts and Dr Goel, 41, were found not guilty of manslaughter under the judge's direction at Cardiff Crown Court in June 2002.

The prosecution's case collapsed after a key witness told the court he could not be sure Mr Reeves died as a result of the blunder.

Both Mr Roberts, who supervised the operation, and Dr Goel, who was not present at the hearing or represented, denied their actions amounted to serious professional misconduct.