Paterson patient 'compelled' to write book

A victim of a disgraced breast surgeon has said she felt "compelled" to write a book to share her own and others' stories as well as the campaign to secure justice.

Diagnosed with breast cancer in 2003, Debbie Douglas had a mastectomy, lymph node removal and seven months of chemotherapy while under the care of Ian Paterson in Birmingham.

Years later, she found out the procedure and chemotherapy were unnecessary, and she only needed to have the less than 2cm lump removed.

In 2017, Paterson was jailed for 20 years for 17 counts of wounding with intent.

However, a subsequent inquiry found the true number of victims at the former Heart of England NHS Trust and the private Spire Little Aston hospital could number in the "hundreds".

It recommended all 11,000 of his patients - mainly from Birmingham, Staffordshire, and Warwickshire - be recalled so their cases could be reviewed.

Douglas said Paterson was at one time "regarded as the most eminent breast surgeon in the country".

"I thought I was being dealt with by the best consultant in the private healthcare system," she said.

"It was much later down the line that things started to unravel and I had to piece together not only what happened to myself but what happened as a whole."

Both of Douglas' parents died of cancer but she had assured her children at the time of her diagnosis that her private health insurance, through work, would make a difference.

She said she was one of many patients that Paterson had deceived.

Douglas has spent years campaigning on behalf of her fellow victims, including spearheading the calls for an independent inquiry, which took place in 2020, as well as for its recommendations to be implemented in full.

Her book The Cost of Trust details both victims' experiences and the fight for justice.

Speaking at an event at Waterstones in Birmingham, Douglas said: "A journalist told me it reads like a thriller. But it's my life.

"I felt compelled to write it. It was about finding my own truth and then finding what's happening to others.

"I first got idea in lockdown, I had so many [former patients of Paterson] contacting me with nowhere to go."

The campaigner turned author knew most of the people in the audience at the Birmingham event, several of whom were also victims of Paterson and had undergone unnecessary operations.

Others were loved ones of former patients whose deaths are being investigated at a series of inquests.

Those 67 inquests are ongoing, and are intended to determine whether the individuals died unnaturally, as a result of Paterson's treatment.

However, the former surgeon is due to be released halfway through his sentence in May 2027, meaning he would be out of jail before the conclusion of the inquests.

At the Waterstones event, Douglas spoke about her petition to stop his early release, which has attracted more than 28,000 signatures - a campaign that was warmly backed by most of those present.

However, Douglas is adamant that her book is not an indictment of the NHS.

Her daughter was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma three times and had a stem cell transplant.

"The NHS saved my daughter's life," Douglas said.

For patients in both the NHS and using private healthcare, what Douglas really wants to do is to encourage people that they can ask for a second opinion, and to take time if they need to consider treatment options.

"I hope it inspires people to speak up. To be empowered," she said.

Follow BBC Birmingham on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.