The deaths of 650 patients treated by a breast cancer surgeon who was convicted of maiming hundreds are being investigated, it has been reported.
Once one of the country’s leading doctors, Ian Paterson carried out thousands of operations before he was jailed for uneccesarily performing hundreds of life-changing surgeries.
The Sunday Times has now revealed medical experts are sifting through the records of women who were cared for by the disgraced surgeon over more than twenty years.
Paterson not only worked for the NHS but also had a practice at two private hospitals run by Spire Healthcare in Birmingham.
He is currently serving a 20-year jail term, having been found guilty of 17 counts of wounding with intent. Many of the procedures, which took place between 1997 and 2011, had “no medically justifiable reason”, a court heard.
According to The Sunday Times, 27 inquests have been opened in cases where coroners “believe there is evidence to have reason to suspect that some of those deaths may be unnatural”.
In particular, those cases involving “cleavage-sparing mastectomies”, a technique invented by Paterson, are understood to be a focus of the team. The technique left tissue behind and led to the cancer returning in some cases. Patients also had to do unnecessary chemotherapy, tests and other procedures.
Deputy high court judge Richard Foster will lead the investigation.
A report by the Heart of England NHS Trust in 2017 found that 675 of Paterson’s 1,206 mastectomy patients had died. Up to 1,000 of his private patients are thought to be died, but the cause of death remains unknown.
Female breast cancer patients aged between 50 and 60 have a 90 per cent chance of surviva, according to Cancer Research UK - yet survival rates were less than 56 per cent for Paterson’s mastectomy patients.
While a coroner’s inquest cannot decide on civil or criminal liability, it can provide evidence to support a case.
Negligence claims against Paterson brought by private patients number at least 1,000. Spire Healthcare recently noted 1,500 more patients could yet bring claims. Then, there were at least 200 claims brought by NHS patients.
Spire has had to fork out £50 million in compensation, while the scandal has cost the NHS £10 million.
However, a mere 10 victims, nine women and one man, had their case heard when the disgraced surgeon was tried.
