‘Psychopath’ surgeon found guilty of wounding patients during unnecessary operations
A breast surgeon has been convicted of carrying out a series of “completely unnecessary” operations.
Ian Paterson was described in court by one victim as being “like God”, lied to patients and exaggerated or invented the risk of cancer to convince them to go under the knife.
The 59-year-old did so for “obscure motives” which may have included a desire to “earn extra money”, Nottingham Crown Court heard.
After a seven-week trial Paterson was convicted by a jury of 17 counts of wounding with intent and three counts of unlawful wounding.
Judge Jeremy Baker released Paterson on conditional bail ahead of sentencing in May.
The maximum sentence for wounding with intent is life.
The Scottish-born surgeon had maintained that all the operations were necessary – but a jury of six men and five women agreed with the prosecution that Paterson carried out “extensive, life-changing operations for no medically justifiable reason”.
Paterson, wearing a black suit, blue shirt and red tie, sobbed as the foreman of the jury returned the guilty verdicts, as did his daughter Emily, who was also in court.
Prosecutor Julian Christopher QC spoke of 20 unnecessary operations causing “really serious harm” to nine women and a man, saying they fell “quite outside the realms of reasonable surgery”.
Frances Perks, whose mother and sister died from breast cancer, was advised to undergo a series of operations, fearing she could develop “full-blown cancer”.
She said: “I think he’s a psychopath. Why would anyone in their right mind do operations to people knowing that they didn’t need them?
“My feelings towards him is I hate him with a passion. You wouldn’t be able to print what I truly think of him and what I would like to see happen to him.
“But I hope he goes down for a very long time and I hope he has a dreadful time in prison and hope he rots in hell.”
There are fears he could have thousands of other victims and dozens of women have already received payouts for treatment after settling civil claims.
Jurors were told at the start of the trial they should not conduct any research into the case – and were not told that hundreds of Paterson’s patients were recalled in 2012 after concerns about unnecessary or incomplete operations.
The surgeon was suspended by the General Medical Council that same year amid claims he carried out so-called cleavage-sparing mastectomies (CSMs) which led to the recall of more than 700 patients.
A Freedom of Information request by the Press Association revealed that 68 women who underwent a CSM – in which part of the breast was left for cosmetic reasons – by Paterson on the NHS had gone on to develop a recurrence of breast cancer.
Figures also revealed that the NHS has paid out nearly £18 million, of which £9.5 million was damages, following claims from nearly 800 patients of Paterson – a fact which the jury were not made aware of during proceedings.
Paterson was able to own a luxury home in Birmingham’s Edgbaston, had numerous properties in Cardiff and Manchester and also had a US holiday home, West Midlands Police said.
A Spire Healthcare spokesman said: “What Mr Paterson did in our hospitals, in other private hospitals and in the NHS, absolutely should not have happened and today justice has been done.
“We would like to reiterate how truly sorry we are for the distress experienced by any patients affected by this case.
“We can say unequivocally that we have learned the lessons from these events. We commissioned a thorough independent investigation and have fully implemented all of the recommendations.”
I hate surgeon Ian Paterson with a passion and hope he rots in hell, says victim
A woman who had an unnecessary mastectomy carried out by Ian Paterson said she hopes the convicted surgeon “rots in hell”.
Frances Perks, whose mother and sister died from breast cancer, was advised to undergo a series of operations, fearing she could develop “full-blown cancer”.
Mrs Perks wept recalling her ordeal at the trial of Paterson, who has been convicted of carrying out unneeded operations against her and nine other patients between 1997 and 2011.
Mrs Perks, who was first referred to Paterson in 1994 when she was 35, said: “I think he’s a psychopath. Why would anyone in their right mind do operations to people knowing that they didn’t need them?
“My feelings towards him is I hate him with a passion. You wouldn’t be able to print what I truly think of him and what I would like to see happen to him.
“But I hope he goes down for a very long time and I hope he has a dreadful time in prison and hope he rots in hell.”
Mrs Perks said she felt no reason to distrust Paterson, and that her sister had also gone under his knife after he “played” on the family history of cancer.
She said: “It was the same (in her case), he played heavily on the fact we lost our mum and older sister.
“He always used to play on that and say that because of our family history we were high risk.
“Giving evidence was absolutely horrendous.
“I only had the image of what I was used to seeing at Little Aston Hospital, I wanted to see what he looked like now.
“I wanted to look at him and I wanted him to see me, and I just wanted to see him as a broken man.”
Another victim, Patricia Welch – who had a mastectomy after being told she was a “ticking bomb” – said her impressions of him completely changed when she found out her operation was not needed.
She said: “I haven’t got any words to describe what he is to me.
“He’s just despicable, he just thinks he can play God with people’s lives.
“He’s not a nice person really.
“I know we were led to believe he was a wonderful man, and he was a wonderful man to us.
“It was such a shock when it turned out what he had been doing was completely wrong.
“I really don’t know how he can live with himself.”
Copyright (c) Press Association Ltd. 2017, All Rights Reserved. Picture (c) Joe Giddens / PA Wire.
