More inquests of jailed surgeon's patients to open

Two more inquest into the deaths of former patients of disgraced surgeon Ian Paterson are set to open, bringing the total number to 65.

Paterson was convicted of wounding patients with botched and unnecessary operations in 2017, and sentenced to 20 years in prison. He had worked at the then Heart of England NHS Trust, which covered Birmingham and Solihull, and also at Spire Little Aston.

The inquests are to determine whether the 65 patients died an unnatural death as a result of his care and treatment.

The inquests will be into the deaths of Pauline Brown, who died in 2006 at the age of 62, and Jennifer Fox, who died in 2012 at the age of 47 and will open on 30 September.

It is expected they will then be adjourned.

Paterson is known to have treated thousands of patients at hospitals in the West Midlands.

Much of the scrutiny on Paterson's actions is to whether he performed so-called cleavage sparing mastectomies.

His trial heard the technique involved leaving some breast tissue behind, preserving patients' cleavages, but could cause a risk of the cancer returning.

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