A High Court judge has approved a multimillion-pound compensation plan for hundreds of victims of disgraced breast surgeon Ian Paterson.
Mrs Justice Whipple expressed her “heartfelt” sympathy to those whose trust she said was “betrayed” by Paterson. She approved a settlement reached in civil damages claims brought on behalf of former private patients.
Her decision, announced at a hearing in London on Wednesday, formally ended litigation which was due to go to trial next month and last for a number of weeks.
Ian Paterson, 59, carried out unnecessary breast operations (Joe Giddens/PA)
Paterson, 59, from Altrincham, Greater Manchester, who carried out unnecessary breast operations in both NHS and private hospitals, was convicted by a jury at Nottingham Crown Court of 17 counts of wounding with intent and three counts of unlawful wounding against 10 private patients.
News of a £37 million fund came earlier this month. Around 750 private patients treated by Paterson will get a payout from the sum, which also makes provision for other claims.
It was announced that Spire Healthcare, which runs private hospitals in the West Midlands where Paterson worked, will contribute £27.2 million to the total. A further £10 million is to be provided by Paterson’s insurers and his former employers, the Heart of England NHS Trust.
Paterson was originally sentenced to 15 years in May, but that “unduly lenient” jail term was increased to 20 years by Court of Appeal judges in August.
Mrs Justice Whipple said in her ruling on Wednesday that the “physical pain and mental anguish” his patients suffered “cannot be understated”. The judge added: “I pay tribute to their resilience in the face of such adversity.”
Paterson left his victims scarred and disfigured. His trial heard from nine women and one man who were treated in the private sector at Little Aston and Parkway Hospitals in the West Midlands between 1997 and 2011. Victims said Paterson’s crimes had left them in constant pain and struggling to trust medical professionals.
Mrs Justice Whipple said: “I am grateful to all counsel and solicitors who have been involved in this litigation, and their respective clients, for bringing it to a satisfactory conclusion by way of settlement. It is better for all concerned that there be certainty in the outcome of this litigation.
“Had the case gone to trial, there would inevitably have been risks on all parties, as well as the possibility of appeals beyond first instance, and the inevitability of significant amounts of time and money being invested in such a process.”
She said: “The damages which the claimants will now receive from this settlement will not eradicate the wrong done to them. Nor, I suspect, can the claimants simply move on as if nothing had happened; the consequences of Mr Paterson’s mistreatment will remain with them for years into the future. But I hope that the money they will receive under this settlement will go some way towards making their lives easier. I wish them all the very best.”