The Independent

Victims of rogue surgeon barred from expert lawyers

- SHAUN LINTERN HEALTH CORRESPOND­ENT

Victims of rogue breast surgeon Ian Paterson are being blocked from using lawyers with experience of the scandal to bring fresh compensati­on claims against the private hospital where he worked, The Independen­t has learned.

Under the terms of a legal settlement for £37m in 2017, 40 law firms have been barred from bringing any new claims against Spire Healthcare for 20 years – meaning that former patients who have learned since the settlement that they were victims of the surgeon, who was jailed for carrying out needless surgeries on

women, face having to find lawyers with no prior knowledge of the case.

When the deal was signed, it was thought that most of Paterson’s victims had been contacted by the hospital company, but an inquiry published in 2020 heavily criticised Spire Healthcare’s failure to reach affected patients and accused the company of seeking to protect its reputation rather than the interests of patients.

In response, Spire Healthcare launched a mass recall of 5,500 former patients, with independen­t clinicians reviewing their medical records. Some of those people have learned for the first time that they had needless surgery at the hands of the surgeon.

One of those is 71-year-old Elizabeth Webb, from Solihull, who had multiple unnecessar­y surgeries carried out by Paterson 20 years ago. He convinced her, without carrying out proper checks, that lumps on her breasts could be pre-cancerous. He also enrolled her in a cancer surveillan­ce programme, leaving her fearful of developing the disease for years.

She told The Independen­t: “He was very Jack the lad, in a nice way. You felt as though you could trust him, that he was the expert. All I needed was a needle biopsy and he didn’t do it. I followed his advice, but it was all unnecessar­y.

“It’s pretty dreadful that someone could do that to another human being, and he had daughters and a wife himself. How can anyone in any organisati­on get away with the things that he did for so long?”

A review of her medical records by a consultant breast surgeon, Brendan Smith, revealed that her surgeries, carried out in 2001, had not been required.

In a letter last month, the company told her that Paterson did not carry out the standard checks to diagnose cancer, adding: “The failure to offer you a biopsy before proceeding to surgery meant that you were not able to make a fully informed decision and Mr Smith confirmed that the surgery you had in June 2001 was unnecessar­y.”

Paterson gave Ms Webb and her GP an incorrect diagnosis and enrolled her for regular checks to spot cancer even though the tissue removed in the surgery had no signs of the disease.

In September 2001, Paterson told Ms Webb that parts of her right breast showed worrying changes, but Spire have since said the ultrasound scan showed that “both breasts were, in fact, normal”. Again, Paterson did not carry out proper checks, meaning Ms Webb underwent a second unnecessar­y surgery.

Ms Webb said she contacted Spire Healthcare following the publicatio­n of the inquiry, which was led by Reverend Graham James, former Bishop of Norwich, in February 2020.

“I had a suspicion, but I put it in the back of my mind. I didn’t realise it was as big as it was until the inquiry, and that’s when I rang Spire,” she said. She was told to contact the Patients Associatio­n charity for advice about lodging a compensati­on claim, with Spire saying it would contact patients again later this year.

Ms Webb has instructed Kashmir Uppal, partner with Shoosmiths, one of the firms who were named in the original settlement deal in 2017. She said: “I would like to be represente­d by Kashmir. She has done all the work and been through it all. It’s completely wrong to stop lawyers from bringing new claims; Spire are just trying to cover their backs. I believe Spire knew there were other patients like me.”

Spire Healthcare has refused to say how many new victims have been identified by the recall.

Ms Uppal told The Independen­t she had been instructed by 12 former patients in recent weeks.

She said: “They all presented with a lump and saw Paterson, who carried out an ultrasound and he put doubt in their minds that they could become more serious. It was false informatio­n and not informed consent. They were led to believe the lumps that were benign were more serious and should be removed.”

Of the legal deal, she said: “We signed that deal in good faith and on the understand­ing that anyone who had been a victim would have been recalled by Spire by the October 2018 cut-off date. Had we known at that time Spire would only do a selective recall, we wouldn’t have signed it. Spire have only done the detailed recall now because of the inquiry by Reverend Graham James. Spire would have let this go under the carpet.”

The inquiry by Rev James found that Paterson had for more than 14 years subjected hundreds of patients to unnecessar­y surgery. In total he treated about 11,000 patients, both in the NHS and privately. Paterson also carried out unapproved surgery known as “cleavage sparing” mastectomi­es, which left behind breast tissue in some cancer patients.

Coroners in Birmingham are examining the cases of 23 of his patients who subsequent­ly died, at the request of West Midlands Police.

Spire Healthcare has set aside £22.2m to pay for the recall of patients and to provide ongoing support and clinical treatment.

A spokespers­on for the company said: “We are committed to providing ongoing support to the patients of Ian Paterson and are carefully following the recommenda­tions as laid out by the independen­t inquiry last year.

“This has included writing to all living patients for whom we have records, to make sure that their care has been fully reviewed and that the outcome has been communicat­ed. For those that require it, we will ensure they get the additional support and care that they need.”

They added: “We are aware there may be patients who wish to seek legal advice in relation to their treatment. We are actively reviewing how best to resolve any issues relating to accessing legal advice arising from the settlement in 2017.”

 ?? (Supplied) ?? Elizabeth Webb, pictured with her husband, Steven, was told that the multiple surgeries carried out by Ian Paterson 20 years ago had been unnecessar­y
(Supplied) Elizabeth Webb, pictured with her husband, Steven, was told that the multiple surgeries carried out by Ian Paterson 20 years ago had been unnecessar­y

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