Breast Cancer Surgeon suspended: 1000 botched operations
Breast Surgeon Ian Paterson, is facing a police investigation and suspension from practising after allegations that he performed unnecessary and invasive procedures in over a 1000 breast cancer patients dating back to 1994. He is accused of operating on at least 450 women when they were perfectly healthy and performing partial mastectomies on 700 women using a risky technique that doesn't remove all the cancerous tissue thereby greatly increasing the risk of secondary cancer developing. While working for NHS and private Hospitals run by Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust, which covers hospitals in Sutton Coldfield, Solihull and Birmingham.
Mrs Boichat was treated by Paterson for breast cancer and she describes here her aggressive treatment, the radical mastectomy operation she underwent, how she was treated with the powerful cancer drug Tamoxifen which brought on an early menopause. And describes the moment she heard she didn't even have the disease.
Mrs Biochat had the operation known as a cleavage-sparing mastectomy. Whereby some breast tissue is left behind for cosmetic reasons, but it's not sanctioned in Britain as there is a risk of the cancer returning. Women operated on by the surgeon are now suffering secondary and in cases terminal cancer as a result of this procedure.
It is not clear what prompted the surgeon to allegedly perform the unnecessary surgeries. But Paterson, who is being represented by the Medical Defence Union, has said: 'I am co-operating fully with the GMC investigation and cannot comment on any of the issues raised because of my duty of patient confidentiality and the ongoing investigation.
Figures show that 50,000 new cases of breast cancer are detected every year and breast cancer is the second biggest cause of death after lung cancer, for women in the UK. So questions will be asked why Paterson was not investigated earlier when evidence came to light back in 1994 and how so very many women received such shocking treatment .
Written and presented by Ann Salter