Dispatches

Can You Trust Your Surgeon? (2013x38)

: 11, 2013

Channel 4 Dispatches investigates the case of surgeon Ian Paterson, who is accused of performing inadequate operations on hundreds of NHS breast cancer victims, putting them at risk of a recurrence of their cancer. Paterson also faces allegations that he performed unnecessary procedures at private hospitals on many more women who didn’t have cancer. Reporter Tazeen Ahmed reveals the missed opportunities to stop women being put in danger by his unapproved procedure, the so-called cleavage sparing mastectomy. Paterson is currently suspended and is facing four separate investigations. In a health system which is supposed to be increasingly transparent, Tazeen asks why it took seventeen years to stop this surgeon.