Victims speak out after ‘monster’ surgeon jailed
DOCTOR SENT TO PRISON FOR 15 YEARS OVER UNNECESSARY OPERATIONS
A VICTIM of ‘monster’ surgeon Ian Paterson said it is ‘up to society’ to decide whether 15 years in prison is sufficient for his ‘dark and grotesque crimes.’
John Ingram, who underwent a double mastectomy after being told he had ‘pre-cancer’ in 2006, said he was ‘still processing’ the length of the sentence after the Altrincham surgeon was jailed yesterday for carrying out unnecessary operations. He joined victims outside Nottingham Crown Court, including Patricia Welch, who said the sentence will ‘never fully recompense for all I have gone through.’
Diane Green, another victim, said she had ‘lost absolutely everything’ at the hands of the surgeon, who was jailed for 20 counts of wounding against 10 patients.
Mr Ingram said the sentencing had brought closure and was the ‘beginning of the healing process,’ but added: “Today Ian Paterson has been convicted of, what I called in court, dark and grotesque crimes.
“He used his position, his obvious charm and charisma to lure patients into a system where he was able to drug and operate and remove body parts from patients, whom he had convinced had cancer or were on their way to cancer.
“He’s received a sentence of 15 years – I’m still processing if I think 15 years is enough for somebody who has shown no remorse, who has put his patients through hell. If 15 years is enough for a man like that to appreciate the crimes that he has committed.”
Mr Ingram said up until the moment of sentencing, the surgeon, of Castle Mill Lane, Ashley, had sat in the dock ‘shaking his head in disbelief as if he was the victim.’ “It is up to society to decide whether 15 years is enough for such a crime,” he said.
“There is no precedent for Paterson’s crime and therefore the judge had his hands tied with sentencing guidelines.”
Mrs Welch, who had a mastectomy on Paterson’s advice, said: “No amount of prison sentence will ever compensate what myself and the other people affected have gone through. We may never know the real reason why he acted in such an evil way.”
After the sentencing, the General Medical Council (GMC) said it was crucial such crimes were prevented from happening again.
Charlie Massey, chief executive and registrar of the GMC, said Paterson’s crimes were ‘deeply shocking acts that betrayed patients’ trust.’
He said: “It is absolutely right that questions are asked about how this happened and more crucially how the health system can prevent it from happening again.
“As soon as we were made aware of these issues we took action to curb his practice and then suspend him, but his practice went unchecked for so long because some of those in the health system, managers but also his colleagues, had their concerns but failed to report them to us.
“The world is a fundamentally different place now.”
Paterson was suspended by the GMC in 2012 amid claims he carried out socalled cleavage-sparing mastectomies, where part of the breast is left for cosmetic reasons, which led to the recall of more than 700 patients.