Woman ‘trusted surgeon’ on breast operation

A SCOTS surgeon recommended that a GP should undergo a “quite unnecessary” operation to remove her right breast – after suggesting he would take the same course of action on his own wife, a court has heard.

Rosemary Platt, who was 47 at the time of the incident in 1997, said she was “anxious” about her health.

She was under the impression that she already had cancer – rather than being at risk of developing cancer – after abnormalities were found in lumps.

Nottingham Crown Court heard that she “left her GP hat at the door” and trusted the advice given to her by Glasgow-born Ian Paterson in 2001.

Mrs Platt told jurors in the trial of Mr Paterson, who is accused of 20 counts of wounding with intent, that he felt a mastectomy was needed because the carcinoma could become aggressive and spread at any time.

She added: “I talked it through with my husband, and when Mr Paterson mentioned it in the clinic, my husband asked him, if his wife had the same particular pathology, would this be the course of action he would take? And he said yes.

“I felt he was a trusted professional, he was a doctor who cared about his patients.”

She added: “It wasn’t that I would get cancer, it’s that I had cancer.

“It could turn aggressive at any time and spread... that’s what I was told.”

The alleged victim interrupted her evidence at one point and said that Mr Paterson, 59, of Altrincham, had said something “offensive” while she was giving her testimony.

The surgeon denies the charges. The trial continues.