A hospital surgeon accused of accidentally making a hole in a man's skull failed to investigate why the patient was severely disabled after the operation, a hearing was told.

Peter Rogers, 61, was told he had suffered a stroke when in fact part of his brain was pushing out through his nose, the General Medical Council has heard.

The former company director is disabled after ear, nose and throat surgeon George Murty pushed a surgical instrument too far up his nose and through the bone, it is claimed.

Mr Rogers had gone in for an operation to cure his constant runny nose and sneezing.

Mr Murty claimed the 54-year-old had suffered a spontaneous stroke following the operation at BUPA Hospital, Oadby, in May 2002.

Consultant neurosurgeon Ian Robertson transferred Mr Rogers to the Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham, after examining the patient in the intensive care unit at the BUPA Hospital, Leicester.

Mr Robertson said: "My concern was that over the next 24 hours he could come to further harm or die."

None of the CT head scans ordered at the QMC detected the hole in the skull as the hospital believed it was investigating a blood clot.

Patrick Field, QC for the GMC, argued Mr Murty should have known that surgery, rather than a stroke, could have caused the problems.

He added: "Having so concluded he ought to have taken steps to investigate, if only to eliminate the most likely from the investigation.

"That Mr Murty did none of these things but instead convinced himself that this was a spontaneous stroke amounts to a serious breach of his duty as a surgeon and a serious lapse of standards."

Murty is accused of 11 charges relating to the operation and his subsequent treatment of Mr Rogers.

Mr Rogers, of The Green, Weston-by-Welland, Market Harborough, is attending the hearing with his wife and two sons.

The hearing continues.