A FURTHER five inquests are to be opened as part of a coroner’s investigation into dozens of deaths linked to convicted breast surgeon Ian Paterson.
Judge Richard Foster, the coroner, said he believes there is evidence to have reason to suspect that some of those deaths may be unnatural.
A total of 48 deaths have been opened so far since Judge Foster and his team reviewed 417 cases of former patients where breast cancer had been listed as a cause of death in part one of the death certificate.
On January 17 inquests into the deaths of Linda Cotterill, Claire Hawthorne, Sylvia Atterbury, Janet Law and Marjorie Taylor will be opened.
Once opened the inquests will be adjourned and it is anticipated that a pre inquest review hearing will be listed for early 2024.
Final hearings are expected to begin in late 2024.
The next of kin of former patients of Paterson have been asked to come forward and contact the solicitors to the inquest via the coroner’s Paerson investigation website here.
Paterson is currently serving a 20-year jail sentence after being convicted in 2017 of 17 counts of wounding with intent and three counts of unlawful wounding against ten patients.
The consultant breast surgeon, whose victims run into the hundreds, worked at hospitals run by the Heart of England NHS Trust (HEFT) and also practiced privately at Bupa hospitals in Solihull and Sutton Coldfield, latterly run by Spire Healthcare.
