Breast Surgeon Was Found Guilty Of Wounding With Intent

Ian Paterson is a breast surgeon hired by the Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust in 1998. His hiring was seen as a good idea by the Foundation Trust because the organization had a large waiting list due to only one other breast surgeon working there at the time.

However, his new colleagues started to voice concerns about Paterson as early as 2003. They claimed he was not removing enough breast tissue during mastectomies and lumpectomies and that his techniques were increasing the chance of cancer recurring in patients. Even though these concerns were brought up in 2003, it took nine years and four reports and investigations before he was suspended by the General Medical Council. While many patients described him as having a “great bedside manner” and being “a great listener”, his colleagues said he was “not a team player” as well as “arrogant”, “aggressive” and a “bully”.

In April of this year, Paterson was convicted of 17 counts of wounding with intent in relation to one man and nine women. He was found guilty of carrying out needless breast reconstruction operations on patients that left them scarred and traumatized. Jurors at his trial, which lasted seven weeks, said Paterson carried out “life changing operations for no medically justifiable reason” on these ten patients. It is estimated there might be more than 1000 additional victims operated on by Paterson.

His victims claimed he lied to them and either invented, or exaggerated, the risk of cancer to convince them to have surgery. He was also described as performing the operations for “obscure motives” which might have included the desire to make more money.

While the maximum sentence for wounding with intent is life in prison, Paterson was first sentenced to 15 years in prison. Just this month, his prison sentence was increased to 20 years after officials decided that the original ruling was “unduly lenient” in favor of the disgraced doctor.