‘Abhorrent’ to claim I did needless breast ops for extra cash, says surgeon
A BREAST cancer surgeon told police it was “abhorrent” that his patients had accused him of carrying out “unnecessary” operations to boost his wages, a court heard yesterday.
Ian Paterson, 59, is alleged to have carried out “medically unjustified and needless” procedures, including double mastectomies, on 10 patients.
When the highly respected consultant was interviewed by police after the allegations came to light he categorically denied any wrongdoing.
Pressurised
Nottingham Crown Court was told Paterson voluntarily attended Coventry police station in 2013, where his solicitor read out a prepared statement.
In it, the consultant said he treated hundreds of patients every year, and had helped to “implement new innovations in breast surgery”.
The statement added: “He has never pressurised any patient to undergo surgery, and gave patients time to consider undergoing surgery.
“All surgical procedures taken by him were appropriate and necessary and he denies any allegation of unnecessary surgery or bad faith. He finds any suggestion he would propose unnecessary surgery for financial gain abhorrent.”
Paterson, who worked for the NHS as well as two private hospitals in the Birmingham area, denies 20 counts of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm on 10 patients between 1997 and 2011.
Giving evidence for the first time, he told jurors he qualified as a doctor in 1981 and began seeing private patients 12 years later. He described private medicine as “a privilege”, adding: “It is a service I wish all NHS patients could have because it tends to be quicker, test results are faster and you have more time with patients.”
Paterson, of Altrincham, Greater Manchester, said when discussing risk with patients he would “always use an analogy that he thought everybody could understand”.
The father-of-three said: “‘White’ was benign, nothing to worry about. ‘Black’ was cancer, and between these two extremes were shades of grey. Once they had that spectrum, I would place them on it, ‘You are here, or here’.”
Of his first alleged victim, GP Rosemary Platt, who had what prosecutors claimed was a “quite unnecessary” mastectomy in 2001, Paterson insisted her treatment was “justified”.
He denied that Mrs Platt’s condition was “benign”, saying: “They are a shade of grey. They are not white. At that stage it was a pre-malignant condition. She was a very anxious lady.”
Honest
He said it was a “challenge” to treat a fellow medic because they “often have pre-conceptions they bring to the table”.
He added: “It is important you are open and honest...give them copies of the histology and X-ray reports.”
Julian Christopher, prosecuting, said Paterson carried out procedures “for his own, perhaps obscure, motives, to maintain his image as a successful surgeon... to earn extra money by doing extra operations and follow-up consultations or because he enjoyed responsibility that came with helping people who believed their lives were in his hands.”
The trial continues.