A consultant surgeon was yesterday accused of failing to investigate the deteriorating condition of a patient who was leaking bile from his wound after a routine gallstone operation and later died.

Stephen Blair, from Heswall, Wirral, was facing charges of serious professional misconduct at the General Medical Council, the doctors' disciplinary body.

The GMC was told that Mr Blair discharged the patient, Thomas Roberts, in spite of the leaking bile, jaundice and pain. The surgeon yesterday admitted the decision to send Mr Roberts home was inappropriate given his condition.

But Mr Blair denied failing his patient when he was sent back to a hospital casualty department by his GP with a large quantity of yellow-stained fluid in his abdomen. It is alleged he did not investigate the cause of the problem and for six days left his care to very junior doctors.

Mr Roberts, who was 39 when he died, was admitted to Clatterbridge hospital in Wirral for a gallstone operation on September 27, 1995. His widow Lesley gave evidence to the GMC's professional conduct committee that her husband was in severe pain in the days after surgery. His wound was leaking, he developed jaundice, complained of pains in the shoulder and abdomen, and his stomach was distended.

Mrs Roberts told the committee that she had noticed her husband's eyes had yellowed, but when she met Mr Blair on October 4, the day he was discharged, the surgeon did not mention jaundice. Mr Blair said her husband would recover better at home, but his condition continued to worsen. He was in extreme discomfort and was neither eating nor drinking.

On October 10, the family GP sent him back to casualty, but Mr Blair did not visit his patient until six days later.

Counsel for the GMC, Rosalind Foster, said: "It's the surgeon's duty to investigate the case. The first reaction should be 'What could I have possibly done wrong in the operation?'"

A great deal of the care of Mr Roberts had been delegated to very junior doctors, she told the hearing. Mr Blair had not made many records of his visits to Mr Roberts.

"You may find Mr Blair's lack of personal care surprising," she said.

On October 20 Mr Roberts went into septicaemic shock and was operated on twice but died on October 25, it was stated.

The hearing continues.