£37m victory for victims of butcher breast surgeon

... after Mail highlighted plight of victims who fell under his knife

VICTIMS of rogue breast cancer surgeon Ian Paterson will share £37million compensation in a settlement announced yesterday.

The money will be paid to 750 patients operated on at private hospitals run by Spire Healthcare and is on top of the £17.4million already offered to 277 NHS patients.

Paterson, 59, was jailed for 15 years in May. Last month this was increased to 20 years by the Court of Appeal after anger that the original sentence was ‘too lenient’.

The surgeon, who was said to have a ‘God complex’, was convicted by a jury at Nottingham Crown Court of 17 counts of wounding with intent and three counts of unlawful wounding between 1997 and 2011.

The trial heard he carried out unnecessary or excessive operations on some patients. He exaggerated or invented cancer risks and claimed payments for more expensive procedures. Other patients were subjected to unauthorised procedures such as ‘cleavage sparing’ mastectomies which left some breast tissue behind and could risk cancer returning. Some died.

The £37million settlement comprises £27.2million from Spire – which allowed Paterson to operate at Spire Parkway and Spire Little Aston hospitals in the West Midlands – plus £9.8million from his insurers and Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust, covering NHS patients referred for private treatment.

The patients who stand to benefit, represented by more than 20 law firms, had been preparing for a High Court battle next month.

Spire had disputed the extent of its liability compared with that of Paterson’s insurers.

Lesley Cuthbert, 69, who underwent painful surgery at Paterson’s hands only to later find out she had never had cancer, said: ‘I’m really pleased that Spire have at last admitted some liability. It’s about time, isn’t it. They earn millions of pounds from the patients who walk through their doors so they should take some responsibility for how doctors operate on their premises.’

Lawyer Linda Millband, of Thompsons Solicitors, representing 500 of Paterson’s patients, said the compensation will help the women and men ‘rebuild their lives and, in some cases, pay for rehabilitation and corrective surgery’.

She said: ‘We are delighted that after five years of hard work, and despite deliberate and protracted stalling by Spire, they eventually came to the negotiating table and agreed to pay their share of the compensation due to the hundreds of Paterson victims.

‘No amount of money can ever take back the harm caused by Paterson’s appalling, calculated negligence, but it will go some way towards helping our clients.’

In a statement, Spire said the agreement was conditional on all parties agreeing, and the court approving, the terms of a formal court order next month. Simon Gordon, interim chief executive at Spire, said: ‘We accept that better clinical governance in the private hospitals where Mr Paterson practised, as well as in his NHS trust, might have led to action being taken sooner, and it is right that we have made a material contribution to the settlement.

‘We have apologised unreservedly to Mr Paterson’s patients for their suffering and distress.’

The surgeon, of Altrincham, Cheshire, also carried out hundreds of unnecessary operations on NHS patients at Solihull Hospital in the West Midlands.

Doctors and nurses who worked with Paterson are being investigated for their roles in allowing him to carry out his botched and unnecessary operations.

Regulators the General Medical Council and Nursing and Midwifery Council revealed that they have launched a number of fitness to practise inquiries. They cover a string of unnamed individuals.

‘Money can never take back the harm’