CONVICTED rogue breast surgeon Ian paterson is due to be sentenced on Wednesday (May 31).
Medical negligence lawyers from Access Legal, including Kashmir Uppal who has fought for those injured, misled and devastated by the disgraced surgeon since 2010, will attend Nottingham Crown Court for the sentencing.
The surgeon had been under criminal investigation for a number of years following what were unnecessary or inappropriate surgical procedures he carried out at Spire Private Hospital and the Heart of England NHS Trust (HEFT in the West Midlands between 1997 and 2011.
The jury decided unanimously in most cases that the surgeon carried out ‘extensive, life-changing operations for no medically-justifiable reason’.
Kashmir Uppal, a specialist medical negligence solicitor, has been instrumental in highlighting the issues relating to Paterson’s practice since 2010, when she was first instructed to act on behalf of one of his former patients. She was also the lead solicitor in the Paterson claims before she joined Access Legal as a clinical negligence partner.
When Kashmir made a call for other women treated by Paterson to come forward the size and scale of his malpractice became apparent, formal investigations at both HEFT and Spire were commenced leading to the Kennedy report and Verita review, and the criminal investigation commenced.
The clinical negligence team at Access Legal continues to advise his private patients, many of whom like Lesley Cuthbert elected for treatment at Spire Private Hospital rather than the NHS on Paterson’s advice. Access Legal has posted a video where Lesley describes her experiences as a patient of Paterson and Kashmir’s leading role in helping to bring Paterson to justice on their website.
Speaking ahead of the sentencing Kashmir Uppal said: “The verdict did at least start the process of closure for his victims and hopefully an appropriate sentence will be handed down.
“The claims of women who Paterson treated on the NHS have largely been settled because HEFT accept that he was their employee, he was acting negligently and was carrying out unnecessary and non-standard procedures.
“Those women can to some extent move on.’
She did, however, caution that the sentencing was not the end of the matter for Paterson’s victims: “The claims and any hope of closure for those women (and men) he treated in the private sector are still outstanding because Spire are saying Paterson was not their employee and therefore they are not liable for his acts or omissions.”
The cases brought by those treated privately by Paterson may well be finally resolved in October 2017.
