À l’hôpital, Debbie Douglas, 66 ans, se réveille après une mastectomie et une reconstruction, réalise qu’elle a subi une intervention inutile par le Dr Ian Paterson, jugé coupable de mutilations avec intention en 2017. Bien qu’on lui ait recommandé cette opération, elle n’aurait eu besoin que d’une lumpectomie. Dix ans plus tard, elle fait face aux conséquences de traitements agressifs et se bat pour la justice, devenant une fervente défenseure des victimes et de la sécurité des patients.
When Debbie Douglas woke up in a hospital, connected to machines that beeped incessantly, she felt as if she’d “been hit by a bus.”
The 66-year-old mother of three from Birmingham had just undergone a mastectomy and reconstruction, which Dr. Ian Paterson had insisted was necessary after discovering a lump just days prior.
Six weeks later, following the advice of the doctor hailed as “the best consultant in the West Midlands,” Debbie began chemotherapy, using a drug that nurses ominously referred to as “the Red Devil.”
She quickly lost all her hair and spent six months feeling dreadful, unable to perform her job in aerospace systems.
However, a decade later, Debbie learned that all of this was unnecessary.
“I only needed a lumpectomy,” she revealed in an exclusive interview. “That procedure would have made me fit and well within a couple of weeks.”
Debbie was among over 1,000 patients of Paterson who were subjected to needless surgeries.
Dr. Paterson, often labeled ‘The Butcher Surgeon,’ is currently serving a 20-year sentence after being convicted of 17 counts of wounding with intent in 2017.
This week, an inquest into the deaths of 62 of his former patients commenced, likely one of the largest inquests in UK history.
‘I was told I was lucky to have him’
Debbie first encountered Paterson in 2003 after discovering a lump in her breast and being referred to him by her private health insurance provider.
She recalls, “I was informed he was the best consultant and felt fortunate to have him.
“From the moment I walked into Spire, I was presented with the idea that he was exceptional, and his team was remarkable, including his plastic surgeons, nurses, and oncologists.”
Paterson conducted a fine needle aspiration biopsy to examine the lump.
“It was a large needle, and he didn’t administer any anesthetic during the procedure,” she stated in the upcoming U&W documentary, Lies, Deceit, Betrayal.
“He located the lump and warned me saying it would hurt. He jabbed the needle multiple times; it felt like a red hot poker in my breast.”
“It was excruciating.”
The following Monday, shortly after sitting down, Debbie was informed by Paterson that she had cancer.
Having lost both her parents to cancer within a single year, the news was particularly devastating for her.
“I asked him, ‘Am I going to live? Is it treatable?’” she shared.
Paterson assured her it was treatable, provided she underwent a double mastectomy along with immediate reconstruction, utilizing fat and muscle from her abdomen.
Debbie recounted, “He said, ‘You’ll walk in with two breasts and leave with two breasts and a lovely flat stomach.’
“I replied, ‘That’s not my priority. I don’t care about the reconstruction; I just want to be safe.’”
Goodbye hugs
The night before her surgery, Debbie was admitted to the hospital where markings were made on her body to indicate where the incisions would occur – running down her stomach, across her torso, and around her breasts.
She reflected, “Looking in the mirror, I felt like a patchwork quilt.”
As she embraced her then-teenage children, who were all upset after losing their grandparents to cancer recently, she reassured them, saying, “But listen, we’ve got Mr. Paterson, the best consultant. My condition is curable. There’s no way I’m going to die.”
Upon waking from the operation, she said it felt as if she “had been hit by a bus.”
“I was literally connected to everything, had an oxygen mask on, morphine flowing into my arm, and an epidural in my spine,” she recalled.
“They performed a large incision from hip to hip, another long cut under my armpit for lymph node removal, and I didn’t even have a belly button left.”
“They had to create a new belly button since they used the fat and muscle from my stomach for blood supply to my new breasts.”
“I wanted to return to normal, but that was impossible.”
<