I put my life in the hands of specialist
Patient tells breast surgeon trial of ‘high risk of cancer’
A WOMAN was told by a Scots breast surgeon that she was at ‘high risk’ of cancer unless she had an operation to remove a ‘sinister’ lump, a court heard yesterday.
Rachel Butler told Nottingham Crown Court she put her life in the hands of surgeon Ian Paterson, saying: ‘He was the specialist.’
She had surgery known as a Hadfield’s procedure to remove ducts from her left breast in January 2011, which prosecutors have alleged was unnecessary.
Mrs Butler described Glasgow-born Paterson as ‘one of the loveliest people I’ve ever met’ when, aged 30, she first had a consultation ahead of the removal of a suspected cyst in 2005.
But in 2011, she was having problems in the same area, with a ‘painful’ white lump reappearing.
Describing a consultation before a second removal operation, she said: ‘I remember him saying the ducts would get lumps which could be quite sinister, quite nasty, so he said that the best thing to do would be to have the Hadfield’s procedure.’
Asked by Julian Christopher, QC, for the Crown, if she was offered alternatives to surgery by Paterson, she replied: ‘No.’
The barrister added: ‘What did you think would happen if you didn’t have the operation?’
She replied: ’That I was going to get cancer.’
Mrs Butler also claimed ‘no test results were really discussed’ with her by Paterson.
Medical complications resulted from the operation at the Spire Little Aston Hospital, Birmingham, on January 24 2011.
During a post-operative meeting, Paterson offered to carry out further surgery – but she declined.
Paterson’s barrister Nicholas Johnson, QC, asked if she was mistaken about her recollection of what Paterson had told her.
She replied: ‘All I was told was it [the lump] looked very sinister and it needed to come out. That was in conversation with Mr Paterson, when I went to see him.
‘I had put my life in his hands. He was the specialist.’
Paterson’s barrister also asked if she was mistaken about having been told she was at ‘high risk’ of cancer.
She replied: ‘Yes he did, he told me I was high risk.’
Earlier, the prosecution had raised the case of another of Paterson’s alleged victims, Frances Perks, who had 27 biopsy cores taken from her healthy right breast.
Giving expert evidence, consultant breast cancer surgeon Ian Monypenny said, in his view, such biopsies in her case were ‘random’ and would ‘absolutely not’ have been received medical best practice.
When asked by the Crown’s barrister if Miss Perks had had breast cancer, on the evidence available, Mr Monypenny replied: ‘No.’
He was then cross-examined by Paterson’s barrister, who said: ‘Asked had she had breast cancer, you said, “No”.
‘But that, with respect, is having said the statement completely out of context.’
Mr Monypenny said: ‘To some extent, it does come down to semantics; is LCIS [lobular carcinoma in situ] cancer; is it pre-cancer; is it malignant; is it a risk factor?
‘But if you’re asking me to come off the fence, it is not what most people call breast cancer.’
Paterson, 59, of Altrincham, Greater Manchester, is expected to claim none of the operations he carried out were unnecessary or unjustified when his defence begins.
He denies 20 counts of wounding with intent, relating to procedures carried out between 1997 and 2011.
Paterson was formerly employed by the Heart of England NHS Trust and practised at Spire Healthcare.
‘I was going to get cancer’