I was butchered at the hands of an evil surgeon who made me have a mastectomy for nothing – he mutilated me and made ME pay for it

A woman has told how she was made to have a ‘needless’ mastectomy by a disgraced surgeon who mutilated her and forced her to pay for it. 

Debbie Douglas, now 66, of Birmingham, was made to undergo the serious operation and a reconstruction by Dr Ian Paterson just days after finding a lump on her breast in 2003. 

Six weeks later the mother-of-three began chemotherapy, quickly losing all her hair and spending six months feeling extremely poorly. 

It wasn’t until a decade later that Ms Douglas discovered she just needed a lumpectomy, and was one of 1,000 of Paterson’s patients who had been unnecessarily operated on. 

Paterson – branded ‘The Butcher Surgeon’ – is now serving a 20-year prison sentence after he was found guilty of 17 counts of wounding with intent in 2017. 

This week, an inquest into the deaths of 62 of his former patients started – believed to be one of the largest ever inquests ever held in the UK. 

Ian Paterson (pictured) is serving a 20-year prison sentence after he was found guilty of 17 counts of wounding with intent in 2017

Speaking to The Sun, Ms Douglas said: ‘I was told he was the best consultant, and I was very lucky to have him. 

‘He felt where the lump was and said this is really going to hurt. He jabbed it in a number of times and it was like having a red hot poker in your breast.’ 

She added: ‘It was so painful.’

When Ms Douglas woke up from surgery, she said she had been cut ‘from hip to hip’, adding that even her belly button was gone as part of the reconstruction surgery. 

The surgeon had used the fat and muscle from the stomach for blood supply to her new breasts. 

In 2020, survivors of the disgraced breast surgeon vowed to ensure lessons were learned from a damning report – as relatives of those who died after Paterson’s operations called for him to face manslaughter charges.

Ms Douglas said all the recommendations from Bishop Graham James’s inquiry must be implemented.

In September 2017, more than 750 patients treated by Paterson received compensation payouts from a £37million fund.

A decade later that Ms Douglas discovered she just need a lumpectomy, and was one of 1,000 of Paterson’s patients who had been unnecessarily operated on 

Ms Douglas provided a first-hand account to the inquiry, adding: ‘If you were a Paterson patient you were 50 per cent more likely to get a recurrence of breast cancer because you’ve been left with breast tissue, basically a time bomb, in your chest, ready to explode and ready to give you cancer because he didn’t remove it.’ 

Ms Douglas welcomed the inquiry’s referral of individuals to authorities including the police.

She said: ‘The fight goes on until the legislation has changed. We don’t want somebody from the Government giving us lip service. It sickens me. 

‘Lessons aren’t learned unless legislations change. You look at the GMC – why, when people have reported the same consultant over and over again, is that consultant still working?’