Surgeon ‘cut into woman’s breast 27 TIMES after lying she needed double mastectomy to stop full blown cancer’
Ian Paterson, 59, allegedly gave false cancer diagnosis to patient's insurer to justify an op carried out for 'no good reason whatsoever'
A SURGEON cut into a woman's healthy breast 27 TIMES during an unnecessary operation so he could justify the expensive surgery to her insurer, a court heard.
Ian Paterson, 59, is also accused of lying to Frances Perks that she needed a double mastectomy or would risk "full-blown cancer" — despite tests not showing any sign of malignancy.
He then wrote to her private insurers with a false diagnosis to justify an operation carried out for "no good reason whatsoever", prosecutors claim.
The surgeon is standing trial on 20 counts of wounding with intent against nine women and one man relating to procedures he carried out between 1997 and 2011.
Jurors have previously heard claims he carried out completely unnecessary operations for "obscure motives" that may have included a desire to "earn extra money" from private fees.
Prosecutor Julian Christopher QC said Mrs Perks, then aged 35, was referred to Paterson in 1994 after finding a lump in her breast. Her mother and sister had died from cancer.
The barrister said: "Because of the family history, she was kept under close surveillance and on a number of occasions over the next ten years, Mr Paterson removed lumps from one or the other of her breasts, which in each case were found to be benign.
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"Mr Paterson carried out a further operation, removing a margin of tissue around the lump he had removed and the microscopic examination of the tissue showed no malignancy.
"Nonetheless, Mr Paterson told Mrs Perks it was time to be thinking of having a mastectomy and that, if she did not, she would end up with full-blown cancer.
"He said that if it were him, he would have a double mastectomy."
A further area of density was found on her left breast in June 2008, which a core biopsy proved to be benign, the court heard.
There was "no further need for surgery", the prosecutor said, but the following month he removed the lump and then referred her to a plastic surgeon to discuss reconstruction following a double mastectomy.
In October that year she went to see him again after finding a lump in her right breast.
"Two days later, under general anaesthetic, Mr Paterson carried out multiple core biopsies in 27 random areas of her right breast," Mr Christopher said.
"Once again, there was no need to carry out this operation.
"It may be that Mr Paterson was looking to justify the insurance covering the right breast as well."
Finally Paterson removed her left breast in November 2008, a procedure that the prosecution claim was "another unjustified and unnecessary operation".
Jurors were told: "Mrs Perks describes getting over the operation as awful.
"She had to spend two weeks where she had to sleep sitting up, it was extremely painful, and she had ongoing problems with the area of her stomach from which tissue had been taken for the reconstruction, which were not put right until she had a further operation in 2012.
"She thought that all of this was necessary because otherwise her life was at risk.
"That was what she believed as a result of what she had been told by Mr Paterson.
"In fact it was quite unnecessary."
Another alleged victim, Joanne Lawson, was left with a "significant deformity"; in the cleavage area, the court heard.
She was 42 when she was referred to the surgeon after she found a lumpy area on her left breast in 2009. A mammogram and ultrasound showed "nothing suspicious", Mr Christopher said.
She accepted the surgeon's suggestion she should have the "unstable" tissue removed, but later said she would not have done so if she knew tests showed no abnormality, jurors were told.
Mrs Lowson underwent another operation in 2010 after the surgeon claimed tests on a recurrence of the lump were "a little suspicious", the court heard.
Mr Christopher said: "Once again, it was unnecessary.
"Unfortunately, these two operations left Mrs Lowson with a significant deformity in the visible cleavage area of the left breast that required subsequent correction and thus a third operation.
"She has been left with numbness and very little feeling in her left breast.
"All three operations were the result of Mr Paterson having wrongly reported the test results to her, her husband and her GP and using language like 'unstable' when there was no evidence that there was ever any increased risk of the development of cancer."
The last of the 20 allegations relates to Rachael Butler, who was operated on aged 30 in 2005.
She returned to see Paterson six years later because a lump beside her left nipple had returned and was painful.
He told her she "had to have" surgery to cut all the ducts off around the nipple "because she was at a high risk of contracting cancer if the lump kept returning", it is alleged.
The operation in January 2011 had complications, including the wound bleeding for several weeks, the court heard.
Mr Christopher said: "Before the operation, Mr Paterson had sought to justify it by pretending that the ultrasound showed a very inflamed duct system.
"Afterwards, he justified it by telling her GP that the pathology report looking at the tissue that had been removed showed lots of inflammation.
"The report makes no mention of inflammation at all and the prosecution say the operation was totally unnecessary."
Yesterday Paterson was accused of "exaggerating or quite simply inventing" the risk of cancer so he could operate on some of his alleged victims.
They included 25-year-old Leanne Joseph, who was devastated when ops meant she was unable to breastfeed.
Another was GP Rosemary Platt, who was allegedly tricked into having a cancer-free breast removed.
Paterson, of Altrincham, Greater Manchester, denies wrongdoing.
All the charges related to private patients he treated at two Spire Healthcare clinics in Little Aston, Birmingham, and Solihull.
The trial continues at Nottingham crown court.
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