What did Ian Paterson do wrong?
Two main issues with Paterson's work have come to light so far and are detailed below. If you were treated by Paterson and the circumstances of your case are not mentioned below, we may still be able to help you. You can contact us for expert and confidential legal advice.
Cleavage sparing mastectomies
While working at Heartlands Hospital, Solihull Hospital, Good Hope Hospital, Spire Hospital Parkway and Spire Hospital Little Aston, Paterson performed 'cleavage sparing' mastectomies on breast cancer patients. The technique involved leaving tissue around the cleavage area for cosmetic reasons, but went against national guidelines which state that no excess tissue should be left behind as this could lead to a return of the cancer.
He did not inform his patients that he was doing anything other than following usual procedures and they had no idea that they were at an increased risk of their cancer returning.
Many of the people operated on by Paterson using this controversial technique have had to undergo further surgery to remove the excess tissue and unfortunately some have had their cancer return.
Unnecessary surgery
While working on a private basis at The Spire Hospital, Paterson may have performed many unnecessary operations which subjected patients to general anaesthetics and left scarring.
He would examine lumps, sometimes carrying out ultrasounds and mammograms, and then advise patients that they had pre-cancerous lumps which needed to be removed.
However, the lumps were often totally benign and harmless and should have been investigated with a simple biopsy. Some people underwent multiple unnecessary operations.