Surgeon operated without obtaining consent.

A decorated military surgeon operated on a 12-year-old boy's genitals without  gaining parental consent.

Cdr Anthony Lambert OBE admitted carrying out the procedure during an unrelated operation at Derriford Hospital in Plymouth, Devon.

Cdr Lambert, who will no longer perform non-emergency operations on children, has apologised along with Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust.

The trust discussed the operation with the General Medical Council (GMC) but was advised to handle it locally.

While the boy from east Cornwall was unconscious and undergoing a hernia operation last year, Cdr Lambert carried out a genital examination.

Cdr Lambert, who was awarded an OBE in 2013 for his work in Afghanistan, felt it was in the best interests of the boy to free adhesions found on his genitals.

But he did not get consent from the boy's parents who were waiting outside the operating theatre, although a colleague told him he should do so.

Although Cdr Lambert went in to the waiting room, he admitted he left without speaking to the family.

In a letter of apology, Cdr Lambert admitted that he should have made more of an effort to find the parents.

He said: "Why I did not call your name when I left theatre to find you, I do not know" he told the family. "I unreservedly apologise for the short-fallings in the care I provided to your son." He also apologised for his "entirely inappropriate" language.

Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust medical director, Dr Phil Hughes,  wrote to the family saying that the operation should not have happened without consent.

He said there should have been a challenge to stop the procedure continuing and that an "organisational development intervention" will be put in place with all theatre team members to ensure it does not happen again.