Claims of unjustified surgery ‘abhorrent’
A LEADING surgeon accused of carrying out unnecessary breast operations for financial gain has described the allegations as “abhorrent”.
Ian Paterson is said to have invented or exaggerated the risk of cancer and in some cases claimed payments for more expensive procedures, a court heard.
The 59-year-old is accused of 20 counts of wounding with intent against nine women and one man, relating to procedures he carried out between 1997 and 2011.
Jurors at Nottingham Crown Court heard Paterson speak of his innocence at a police interview relating to the allegations on January 8 2013.
In the statement, read by prosecutor Nicholas Barraclough, he said: “He has never pressured any patient to undergo surgery. He gave patients time to make their decision.
“All surgical procedures taken by him were appropriate and necessary and he denies any allegations of unnecessary surgery or bad faith.”
He denied the operations were performed “for the purpose of financial gain or any other purpose”, describing suggestions he carried out the operations for money as “abhorrent”.
The jury previously heard claims he undertook completely unnecessary operations for “obscure motives” that may have included a desire to “earn extra money”.
Alleged victims of Paterson have included a mother said to have agreed to two “unnecessary operations” which left her unable to breastfeed and a woman who had a “significant deformity in her visible cleavage area” after a pair of “unnecessary operations” on her left breast, the court heard.
The first charge relates to a wide local excision – an operation in which a lump and tissue surrounding it are removed – carried out on GP Rosemary Platt in August 5 1997. The prosecution previously claimed this procedure was unjustified as there was no evidence of abnormal cells in the milk glands, but this is denied by Paterson.
Paterson, of Altrincham, Greater Manchester, who was formerly employed by Heart of England NHS Trust and practised at Spire Healthcare, denies 20 counts of wounding with intent.
The trial continues.