By: Earnest Wright | 04-28-2017 | News
Photo credit: Evgeniya Tiplyashina | Dreamstime.com

Breast Surgeon Intentionally Wounded Patients

Breast surgeon Ian Paterson has been convicted of intentionally wounding patients by carrying out unnecessary operations.

The 59-year-old surgeon conducted life-changing operations for no medically-justifiable reason. Nottingham Crown Court heard that his motives were obscure but may have included a desire to earn extra money.

The breast surgeon was found guilty of 17 counts of wounding with intent, relating to nine women and one man. Jury members also convicted him of three further wounding charges. He was granted bail and is due to be sentenced in May.

There were reports that Paterson treated thousands of patients during his career he also exaggerated or invented cancer risks and claimed payments for more expensive procedures in some cases.

The accounts from 10 victims will be heard in the seven-week trial representing a sample of those Paterson treated. They were operated on between 1997 and 2011 at the privately-run Little Aston and Parkway hospitals in the West Midlands.

Assessors were not told Paterson carried out hundreds of unnecessary operations on NHS patients, with a hospital trust paying out £17.8m in damages and legal costs.

Former patients gave moving testimony about their treatment at Paterson's hands during the proceedings. Some patients revealed how Paterson misled them into thinking they were seriously ill, leading them to agree to surgery.

One of the patients said that she was called a ticking time bomb by the surgeon and he convinced another she had cancer when she was only at risk of developing it.

A former patient by the name of Debbie Douglas said after Paterson was convicted that she thought she had the best of consultants. All the years down the line, adding that she feels betrayed.

Some patients revealed that Mr. Paterson charmed and manipulated his patients into trusting him, adding that they for one trusted him with their lives.

Apart from Ian Paterson's private work that was a cause for concern. His employment by the NHS at the Heart of England Trust, based in and around Birmingham is also of major concern.

Back in 2011 it emerged that he had been performing an unorthodox and unregulated procedure known as a cleavage-sparing mastectomy. A mastectomy removes the whole breast, but this procedure left some tissue behind, putting women at risk of the cancer returning.

Even after being asked to stop by managers, Ian Paterson continued to use the technique for several years. Approximately £18 million has been paid by the Heart of England Trust in damages and legal costs to hundreds of his former patients.

One of the victims is a Health worker known as John Ingram, who was wounded with intent. He earlier on told the trial how he underwent a double mastectomy at Paterson's hands despite his "phobia" of surgery and he still lived with near-constant pain 10 years on.

Another victim by the name of Rosemary Platt, herself a GP, reported how she had an unnecessary operation to remove a breast after being told she had cancer that could turn aggressive at any time.

Dr Platt, now retired, said Paterson told her he would recommend the same procedure to his wife if in the same position.

A report from Det Insp Caroline Marsh of West Midlands Police pointed out that there is lots of speculation as to why he has done what he has done. Some of his victims claim that he wanted to play god with their lives or he got some perverse satisfaction from these procedures.

The Police emphasized that Paterson may also have been driven by financial gain, so he could claim payment for carrying out each procedure to fund his extravagant lifestyle. He owned a luxury home in Birmingham's Edgbaston area, numerous properties in Cardiff and Manchester and a holiday home in the U.S.

Paterson performed what he called cleavage-sparing mastectomies on many of his patients, leaving breast tissue behind to achieve a better cosmetic effect. By doing so, he left them in great danger of developing secondary cancer, jurors heard.

SOURCE:

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-39748246

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1 Comment/s
Anonymous No. 2603 2017-04-29 : 14:13

Cleavage sparing mastectomy? Is he retard?

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