Breast surgeon accused of wounding his patients with unnecessary ops joked 'I have to pay for my holidays somehow'

Ian Paterson alleged to have carried out a series of procedures for "obscure motives" which may have included a desire to earn extra money

BYALEXANDER BRITTON

A surgeon accused of wounding his patients with unnecessary operations joked "I have to pay for my holidays somehow" during a private consultation, a court heard.

Ian Paterson, who is alleged to have carried out a series of procedures for "obscure motives" which may have included a desire to earn extra money, is said to have told patient Patricia Welch and her husband that appointments were "a good earner".

ent under the knife of Ian Paterson in 2001, three years after she found a lump in her left breast.

Nottingham Crown Court heard Paterson said she was a "ticking bomb" and suggested she undergo a mastectomy - something she delayed telling her children about so as not to spoil her daughter's 18th birthday.

At the time of the operation in 2001, Mrs Welch, then 48, was undergoing six-monthly check-ups at the Little Aston Hospital, West Midlands, after being told pre-cancerous cells had been found.

Michael Welch accompanied his wife to her appointments and told the court that Paterson and the couple were on "quite good terms".

He said: "We used to joke together, we would say it was quite a good earner for the consultancy fee.

"He would jokingly say 'I have to pay for my holidays somehow'. We would gently laugh at that."

Paterson is standing trial after denying 20 counts of wounding with intent against nine women and one man relating to procedures he carried out between 1997 and 2011.

Mrs Welch told jurors on Wednesday that Paterson had suggested it was inevitable her pre-cancerous cells would develop into full cancer.

She said: "In effect, he said I was a ticking bomb.

"I was under the impression - that I got from Mr Paterson - that at some point it would change to cancerous because the cells I had got were bad pre-cancerous cells and it was just a question of when."

She added it was not an "easy" decision to choose to go under the knife - and decided to sleep on it.

"It was my daughter's 18th birthday that weekend so we decided not to say anything. After that weekend we sat down both of them and told them, explained everything to them.

"It would have been quite stressful for them, my eldest daughter was taking her finals at university. My other daughter was taking her A-levels that summer and she would have to effectively look after me at home as well as doing her A-levels.

"I made the decision to go ahead which was not an easy decision but I thought it would have the best outcome to proceed with a preventative mastectomy and immediate reconstruction."

Mrs Welch had the procedures on her left breast in May 2001 which she was told would take up to seven hours.

She told jurors she remembers going into theatre at around 7.30am and waking up in a recovery room to see a clock showing 9 o'clock.

"I just looked at the clock and said 'Have you not done the operation?' because I thought it was 9am," she said.

The court heard there were problems with the reconstruction and she had to have more operations to correct implants.

Paterson is alleged to have given her the "erroneous impression" she had made the right decision to go under the knife.

She told the jury of six men and five women: "He said the mastectomy had gone well and I had made the right decision because all the breast had got pre-cancerous cells."

"He was a consummate professional.

"He had a wonderful bedside manner and I put my complete trust in him and anything he said I knew it was the truth that he was telling me and that's why I made my decision to have the operation."

In cross-examination, defence QC Nicholas Johnson asked her if she was sure the phrase "ticking bomb" was used, to which Mrs Welch said yes.

Mr Johnson also referred to a medical report which said Mrs Welch has given her treatment options a "great deal" of thought but that she was "quite clear" about not being able to cope with continued surveillance of the breast.

Paterson, of Altrincham, Greater Manchester, who was formerly employed by Heart of England NHS Trust and also practised at Spire Healthcare, denies 20 counts of wounding with intent.