A RED-FACED surgeon has been forced to cancel a string of operations after slicing through his finger while de-stoning a slippery avocado pear.
Gynaecologist Duncan Irons is usually top of the class when it comes to using a blade, but even he could not handle the sharp implement his wife had bought him as a present.
The consultant was forced to drop a number of operations after admitting slicing through his his index finger.
Patients arriving for surgery at the private Newcastle Nuffield Hospital, Jesmond, were told that their operations had been cancelled.
Dr Irons, 49, of Benton, Newcastle, also works at the BUPA hospital in Washington and the University Hospital of North Durham.
He will need a period of convalescence before picking up his surgical knives again.
He said yesterday: "It is very annoying and embarrassing to cut your own finger. I haven't got the time to be ill. I have had to cancel some surgery."
The doctor's accident is unlikely to affect any of his operations at the BUPA hospital in Washington or his NHS work at the University Hospital of North Durham.
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