All language subtitles for Lies.Deceit.and.Betrayal.S01E02.Paterson.1080p.ALL4.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-HiNGS_track3_[eng]

As we sat down,
Paterson immediately said,

"You have got cancer."

He was a charming doctor
that told them

he was going to save their lives.

They had no reason to
question the treatment

he was providing to them.

To me, he had this kind of twisted
thing about his scalpel

and cutting into people.

Is he saying that the operation
was actually done for no reason?

Why did I let them do that to me?

To allow them to cut you open?

The more he does,
the more money he makes.

He's one of the worst criminals
that we've seen in the NHS

and the private sector.

NARRATOR: Solihull, in the
south-east of Birmingham.

While getting ready for
a night out with friends,

45-year-old Debbie makes a discovery
that will change her life.

I had to get ready really quickly.
I didn't have a lot of time

to get to my friend's house.

Got in the bath and that's
when I found the lump.

It was quite small.
It was like a hard pea shape.

I was worried that I'd
got something, you know.

I've got three kids.

They were teenagers at the time,

so the thought of me
having any kind of cancer

was just unbearable, really.

Debbie's private health insurer
refers her to one

of their top consultants,
Mr Ian Paterson.

Walking through into reception,
it was,

"You're really lucky to
have Paterson, you know,

"he's the best consultant."

He had an air of authority
about him.

Ian Paterson was a very
well-known surgeon.

He was the man to go to
if you had breast cancer

and needed to be seen.

He worked predominantly for the NHS,

but he also worked for several
different private hospitals.

He was trained as
a vascular surgeon,

but he was considered very charming
and very popular with his patients,

and they felt at ease with him.

Paterson performs a fine-needle
aspiration to investigate the lump

on Debbie's breast.

It was a large needle.
Didn't give me any anaesthetic

around the breast.

He kind of felt where the lump was.

And he said to me,
"This is really going to hurt."

And he literally jabs it in
a number of times,

and it was like having a
red-hot poker in your breast.

It was so painful.

And then he said, "We'll get
the results back Monday."

Monday came.

And as we sat down,
Paterson immediately said,

"You have got cancer."

There's a degree of shock
when they tell you these things.

I was upset, obviously.

I actually said to him,
you know, "Am I going to live?

"Is it treatable?"

And he went, "Look, it's treatable.

"We've got to do a mastectomy.

"But you will have
immediate reconstruction.

"You'll go in with two boobs
and come out with two boobs

"and a nice flat stomach."

When he said that, it's like,
"That isn't my priority."

I don't care
if I have a reconstruction or not.

I just want to be safe.

Debbie is painfully aware
that cancer has already taken

both of her parents.

We were so close.

That was Dad in the last year
before he died.

We didn't know at the time,
but it was just the year after Mum,

so he went quite quickly.

Obviously, the kids were worried
because they'd lost

their grandparents to cancer.

We all kind of hugged, got upset.

But I just said to them,

"We've got the best consultant."

Mr Paterson said mine's curable.

I'm not going to die.

There's no way I'm going to die.

As a highly respected surgeon,

Ian Paterson has hundreds
of patients on his books.

Jade was just 16 when
she became one of them.

I was at home having a shower.

Just remember feeling, like, a lump.

I didn't know how I'd
not felt it before.

Your mind panics and
goes straight to,

"Oh, my God, this is cancer."

This is really not good.
Like, I've just started college.

I'm so young. I'm only 16.

You know, this isn't
how it's supposed to be.

This isn't what's
supposed to happen.

After making an appointment,
Paterson examines Jade.

I remember feeling quite
anxious around the unknown

of what that examination
was going to look like,

which obviously at 16 is,
like, a bit daunting.

But I remember immediately
feeling quite at ease.

He made us feel like
we were in safe hands

and he was going to look after us.

DR ELISABETH CARTER:
A doctor-patient relationship

is something that's very
special and unique.

The patient is in a very
vulnerable position.

They're revealing parts of
themselves physically or mentally

and asking for that person
to assess them.

In the wrong hands, that kind
of relationship can be exploited.

Following the examination,
Paterson informs Jade

that she has a condition
known as fibroadenoma.

It's a benign lump which, obviously,
at that point, is a massive relief.

He basically says, "It's quite big,
so we need to get it out.

"It could impact breast-feeding
later on in life

"just because of the size of it.
We'll book you in next week.

"It'll be all sorted."

Paterson has made his diagnosis
without performing a biopsy,

but, shockingly, still books
Jade in for invasive surgery.

The anxiety sitting in the bed
before kind of being taken

down to surgery was...

Yeah, it was quite overwhelming.

I was petrified.

My mum and dad were
crying in the room,

understanding the gravity
of the situation

more than I could grasp at 16.

I was their little girl,
kind of being wheeled off

and having to have this surgery,

and they obviously put the
needle in and then I was gone.

Like Jade, Debbie is also
referred for surgery.

To remove her lump, Paterson decides
to perform a full mastectomy.

I had to go in the night before.

I was woken early in the morning.

They said, "Take your gown off,"

and they marked me where they were
going to cut across the stomach,

erm, down my torso, round my breast.

And there was a mirror in the room
and I thought I looked like

a patchwork quilt.

Being wheeled into theatre,

there was a whole thing in the back
of my mind about,

"Will I come out of theatre?"

Because although I told
the kids I was going to live,

I didn't inherently believe that
because I'd watched my mum die.

The anaesthetist said, "I'm going
to give you an injection now,"

and then I was under.

When you have this
life-changing diagnosis,

this cancer diagnosis, your life
is literally in the hands

of that surgeon because
doctors have this authority,

they have this knowledge
about the human body,

and medical professionals
such as Mr Paterson

will automatically have a level of
credibility, legitimacy and trust.

So you will follow their treatment
plan and you will do whatever.

You'll throw whatever
money you can at it

because everyone knows it can
mean the difference between

life and death.

As I was coming round,
I was in a world of pain.

I felt like I'd been hit by a bus.

Literally, I was hooked up
to everything.

I had an oxygen mask on,
morphine drip into my arm,

an epidural in my spine.

This nice Irish nurse monitored me
through the night,

and I said to her,
because I couldn't move,

I said, "Can you tuck me in?"

I wanted the blankets
kind of around me.

So that got to me because it was
like my mum, you know?

Like your mum tucking you in.

And, er...

I was just thinking about my mum...

..and, er...

..what happened to her.

But really missing her.

After five days in hospital,

Debbie returns home to recover.

I wanted to get back to normal,
but I couldn't.

I was cut from hip to hip.

The stomach muscle gets
re-routed under your chest wall,

so your core is affected.

He removed all my lymph nodes,
so I've got a scar

right across my arm, under my arm.

And I did say to Paterson,

"There is no way that
after six weeks

"you recover from this operation."

And you don't. So, to me, I was
sold something that wasn't true.

I thought I had the best consultant.

I totally trusted him, but I
still felt uneasy about that.

Paterson then books Debbie in
for six months of chemotherapy.

The fact that I went into chemo
so quickly after major surgery,

I was still healing.

Every time they put the chemo in,

every scar tissue ached and tingled.

You get to a point where your hair
starts falling out.

My friend had some clippers
and I asked her to shave my head.

I looked at it that I'd have
to lose a year of my life,

having treatments
and getting better.

What I didn't know was that
all this was unnecessary.

Debbie isn't the only patient
who is having doubts

about Mr Paterson's diagnosis.

We were really thankful of Paterson.

Thinking, "Thank God we found him
and thank God he's looked after us."

But as it all unfolds, it's actually
frightening how manipulative

and, like, how he fooled everybody.

Following a lumpectomy at the hands
of surgeon Ian Paterson,

teenager Jade discovers she might
require further treatment.

It's probably been over 18 months
since the first operation,

but then found another lump,
this time in my right breast.

Right, OK. Not great, but
we'll go see Paterson again.

He'll sort it for us.
Like, no problem.

It was the same routine.

Quick check and then, "Yeah,
let's get you in for surgery."

Like during their
first consultation,

Paterson immediately
refers Jade for surgery

without having performed a biopsy.

Again, we were really
pleased with the service

and how quickly we were getting
seen and how quickly these things

were getting dealt with.

I'd had the surgery. Again,
everything had gone well.

I was going back to college
and I was feeling relieved.

Chapter closed. Done.
We can just move on again.

But over the course of that next
year, I had another operation.

And then, just over a year later,
had the fourth one.

Each surgery, I guess it
just became more...

..almost transactional.

We go and see Mr Paterson,
he's going to take care of it,

and then we move on and hope
that it doesn't happen again.

I was 19, I wanted to be out
with my friends, enjoying life

and doing what I wanted to do.
I didn't want to be constantly

in hospital having operations.

But I know that Mr Paterson
will take care of me

and I trust him implicitly.

Paterson was almost a
celebrity doctor amongst

the breast cancer patient community
in the West Midlands.

As well as being popular
with the individual patients,

he worked quite hard to become
a face for the patient groups.

He was pictured with them on
social media, in local newspapers.

He was their advocate,
almost their hero.

He was quite often
referred to as godlike,

as someone who was a saviour
of cancer patients,

and people would be thrilled
to be under his care.

So he's starting to develop
his own brand, as it were,

as this god of surgery, and
he's believing his own hype.

Among his NHS co-workers, however,

Paterson has a very
different reputation.

What we've got is a very
popular surgeon publicly,

but, privately, his colleagues
found him arrogant, quite brusque,

and he didn't really value, I think,
the opinions of those around him.

As doctors, we've created
a system called

multidisciplinary team meetings

to bring together the
respective professionals

within each field.

It's meant to be an open forum
for such discussions

and then select the optimal
treatment of their cancer.

Paterson is missing meetings.

He's not taking
advice from his colleagues.

He's continuing unabated

because he believes that
he's above the law.

He believes that because he is such
a rock star celebrity surgeon

that he makes the rules,
he doesn't follow them.

Worried about his conduct
and the large number of patients

under his care, Paterson's
colleagues voice their concerns

with the NHS hospital's
management team.

DR JOHN CONIBEAR: That might be
because they've noticed

something that seems unusual

and so they want to scrutinise
that more closely

to get some factual sort of
understanding of what's going on.

SHAUN LINTERN: There are doctors
doing audits privately,

almost behind closed doors,

and these concerns were
expressed internally.

Despite ongoing concerns
about his conduct,

Paterson continues to examine
and treat new patients.

They include Sarah Jane,

who had been told by her previous
doctor that she has a benign lump

on her left breast.

I had fully expected that
the results would be,

"Everything is OK."

When I actually was in
the consultation

with Ian Paterson,
the news was very different

from anything that I'd had before.

After reviewing her scans, Paterson
informs her that she requires

immediate surgery at
a private hospital.

He said that the results
are not good.

There is a lump that
wasn't there before.

It's growing quite rapidly.

He said, "There won't be enough time
for you to get this done

"on the NHS. The only thing
you can really do is to

"come and have the
lumpectomy with me

"to take out the lump
that was growing."

I was very concerned and said,

"Well, what about a second opinion
to test

"to see if there are any
cancer cells there?"

And he was a little bit
sort of offended

that I'd sort of suggested that.

He said that there
was no time and,

"You really need to get it
looked at straight away."

I felt absolutely terrified
and utterly railroaded.

But I was reassured that
you could do self-funding

for private health care.

Unable to pay for the
surgery herself,

Sarah Jane turns to
her family for help.

And they were absolutely horrified
that this was so dramatic

and so sudden.

And, of course, when it's
something that's...that's

terrifying like that, just find
the money and that's it.

Sarah Jane's parents agree
to pay for her surgery

and she is booked into hospital.

I was absolutely dreading
the whole idea of surgery.

He explained that the lumpectomy
would involve an incision

and it would be a scar
across the side.

He would be able to do it quite
quickly with a minimum of scarring.

Simple surgery.
Don't worry, it will all be OK.

Once you were lying down,

it was at that point that they said,

"You have to sign the release form,"

so that, if Paterson found
that it was worse

than he had thought,

then it was a release to say
that he could do mastectomy

or whatever was necessary.

It was just so utterly shocking
to hear this.

Oh, my God.

And then it was the anaesthetic
and the countdown and...out.

Sarah Jane is just one of hundreds
of patients to go under the knife

in Ian Paterson's operating theatre.

SHAUN LINTERN: He was
getting a reputation for

quick surgeries as well. He could
get through a lot of patients

in a short amount of time.

When you can create your
own pipeline of income,

it's really lucrative.
It was great for business.

Unlike in the NHS, when a surgeon
works in the private sector,

the more they operate,
the more they can earn.

If you work within the
private medical sector,

you enter into a almost
self-employed situation.

If you treat a patient,

then the clinician will receive
that income.

Quite simply, Paterson
did very well out of this work.

He had multiple properties.

He had an Aston Martin that he was
seen driving around in.

He would seem to have lived
a lavish lifestyle.

So clearly there was evidence
that his income was significant.

After waking up from surgery,

Sarah Jane discovers
Paterson appears to have

changed her procedure mid-operation.

My sister was there

and I made her look because
I was so horrified.

The scar was in a completely
different place.

Paterson came the next morning.

I said, "Well, how is that?
That's not what you said.

"I don't understand."

And he said, "Well,
when you were lying down,

"I was able to get a better angle,

"making sure that I had a better
scar in a better place

"that was less obvious."

You know, "Yes, it's a better
result," kind of a thing.

As she recovers, Paterson gives
Sarah Jane some positive news.

And it was at that
point when he said,

"You will be relieved
to know that it wasn't cancer."

It was like, "Well,
what do you mean?"

Is he saying that the operation
was actually done for no reason?

Sarah Jane appears to
have been subjected to

unnecessary and extensive surgery

yet feels unable to
lodge a complaint.

When a patient is under
a doctor's care,

particularly for something
as emotive as cancer,

they probably can't feel
as though that they can

voice their concerns because
they are in the hands of an expert

that's been trained for years
and they know the right treatment.

And also, you have everyone
around saying,

"You're so lucky you have this guy."

He's got this established
track record.

He has this superstar status,
this kind of celebrity around him.

Ian Paterson is completely
protected by his reputation

at this point.

I was led to believe that he was
the best breast consultant

in the area.

I had absolutely no idea
that he would tell me

anything other than the truth.

Ian Paterson is a highly respected
breast surgeon

who has treated hundreds of people.

But his colleagues and patients

are voicing growing concerns
about his conduct.

I had been contacted by
a lady who had had

a mastectomy in 2006.

She had then required further
surgery in 2009

because she'd had a recurrence
of breast cancer.

She was reviewing her care,
thinking,

"If I had a mastectomy which removed
all of that breast tissue,

"why did I have a recurrence
in the breast tissue?

"That doesn't make sense to me."

So she asked me to
look into the case.

She told me that the surgeon
was Ian Paterson.

He had come really
highly recommended.

I did some research.

I looked at the GMC register

to see whether there were
any concerns about him.

He was there with a full
practising certificate.

There wasn't really anything
negative about him.

When Kashmir studies the
woman's medical notes,

she discovers something unusual.

We then instructed a medical
expert to review the care

that this lady had received.

The information in the letters
to the GP and the operation notes

were so scanty and sparse.

Very little information.
A drawing of a breast

with, like, an "M" for mastectomy.

Why was he being so secretive?

Kashmir also uncovers
medical reports

which reveal the woman's mastectomy
had not been performed correctly.

It clearly showed
that there was toxic breast tissue

that should have been removed.

And that's when I thought,
"Oh, my goodness.

"That's why the cancer
had come back."

At that time, I thought,

"There must be an explanation
for this.

"It's not something that a doctor
would do deliberately."

As doctors, their job is to do
the best for their patients.

During his cancer surgeries,

Paterson is performing what he calls

"cleavage-sparing mastectomies"

on some of his patients.

Before coming across the term

"cleavage-sparing mastectomy",

I wasn't aware of that previously
in my professional career.

By intentionally leaving
behind breast tissue

would seem to conflict with the
clinical decision that's been made

in the best interests
of that patient.

Following Kashmir's discovery,

the patient decides to sue
Ian Paterson for negligence.

This breast surgeon
has been treating patients

for a number of years.
That's when you start thinking,

"Are there more cases
where he's carried this out?"

I put an article together,
put it out on our website

as a call for action.

"If anybody's concerned,
please let me know."

Word of the potential legal
proceedings soon spreads

among Paterson's former patients.

It was call after call
after call after call

from women who had been
treated by Ian Paterson.

SHAUN LINTERN: I think that's
when you began to realise

maybe there was something
more sinister

and more concerning going on.

As the former patients come forward,

the scale of Ian Paterson's
clinical negligence becomes clear.

I don't think anyone
really appreciated

just how large and serious this was.

Some of the mastectomy patients
would wake up in hospital beds

with more tissue than
they really expected,

and they would raise this
and he would just say,

"It's fatty tissue,
it's nothing to worry about."

You know, it was sold to them as
a good thing, a positive thing.

We had about 100 patients.

The majority of them were women

who'd had a cleavage-sparing
mastectomy.

He has conned them in terms
of the procedures

that they've undergone.

They had no idea that most
of that toxic breast tissue

is left in situ and didn't
give them any information

about what he'd actually done.

He was a charming doctor
that told them

he was going to save their lives.

They put all of their faith in him

so, when they woke up,
they had no reason to question

the treatment he was
providing to them.

Why would he do this to
these vulnerable people

who had come to him and placed
their lives in his hands?

It beggars belief.

The increasing number of complaints
against Ian Paterson

forces the hospital where
he works to take action.

He's been operating on thousands
of women for more than a decade now.

The Trust management are very
worried about what he's been doing,

especially about the
cleavage-sparing mastectomies.

They begin to see this surgeon
as a liability.

In 2011, Paterson was suspended
from NHS and private practice.

The women felt very much let down.

They were very angry.

They also felt that it was
bigger than just negligence.

They felt that he should be
held accountable personally

for what he'd done.

When you operate on someone in a way
that they didn't consent to,

it is a criminal assault.

And so now real questions start
to be asked about Paterson's

culpability as an actual criminal.

While the police launch
a criminal investigation,

Paterson's hospitals recall his
former patients for reassessment.

JADE: Just hearing whispers
that some of the cancer patients

that have been treated at Parkway
were getting recalled.

And, yeah, didn't think it
affected kind of us at all

until we got a letter to say that
we were being recalled too.

SARAH JANE: I received a letter
absolutely out of the blue.

"Please come and see
a breast consultant

"to go through exactly what it was

"Ian Paterson had done."

I was absolutely terrified.

How bad could it be?
What could this mean?

DEBBIE: "Our investigations have
revealed some irregularities

"in his practice that may go against
recognised treatment standards.

"We are keen to ensure that
every patient whose notes

"have been reviewed is
given the opportunity

"for a face-to-face consultation
to discuss their care."

When I read this, I thought,

"What the hell is happening?"

Medical consultants interview
each of Paterson's patients

to assess their cases.

JADE: He starts going through
the operations and saying

that he might not have done
some of the surgeries.

I was thinking,
"Well, you don't know me.

"You weren't there
when I first came in.

"Mr Paterson's looked after us
and taken care of us

"for the last few years,
so I wouldn't be healthy

"without what he's done."

We just talked through
what tests had been done.

It was only at that point
that it was, like,

no biopsy had been done on any of
the lumps to check what they were,

and I was totally shocked.

The fact that Ian Paterson had not
conducted any biopsies on Jade

means the four surgeries
she underwent

may not have been necessary.

He was telling me that I'd
gone through everything

for no reason at all.

I just couldn't believe it.

I didn't want to believe that,
actually,

this guy that we really
liked and really trusted,

we'd been conned by almost.

You trusted somebody so much
to allow them to cut you open

that you almost don't want
to then admit, like,

why did I let them do that to me,

especially at such a vulnerable age

between those years of,
like, 16 and 19?

Sarah Jane also agrees to be
re-examined by another consultant.

I was told I had to have
another ultrasound

to see what actually
was the situation.

It showed that the original
that...that was

the one that he was supposed
to have taken out

was still there.

That was just so utterly shocking

and utterly devastating.

I've been through all of that just
to lose a healthy part of my breast

and for the original problem
to still be there.

In Solihull, Debbie asks the legal
team to assess the treatment

she received while under
Ian Paterson's care.

And the only way I got a definitive
report on what happened to me

was by going to a true independent
person to look at my notes.

A review of the scans
he took of her lump

reveals something shocking.

He said I had a very small tumour,

grade one cancer, no spread
to my lymph nodes,

which meant that I did
not need chemotherapy

and I did not need the huge
operation that he put me through.

He actually measured each scar
under my arm, around my breast,

from hip to hip.

Photographed me a number of times.

He read back everything
that Paterson had done

and it really, really hit me,
you know,

that the amount of scars I'd got
that were so unnecessary.

I was so upset, I sobbed.

A consultant who you
trusted implicitly.

All I needed was a lumpectomy.

It was a less than
two centimetre lump,

which is classed as small
in cancer terms.

So they could have just cut
that lump out.

I'd be back at work within weeks,
probably.

DR JOHN CONIBEAR: Generally
speaking, the more complex

the procedure you're performing,

the more time it theoretically
takes to do that treatment

and therefore the higher
cost you can bill for it.

It's something like 40 grand
with all the stuff I had done

and all the meetings
and all the scans.

He was making a lot of money.

Despite undergoing extensive
and expensive surgeries,

Debbie remains unsure whether
Paterson even removed

the cancerous lump he
initially identified.

He categorically stated that I had
almost 50% breast tissue left,

but the fact that he left that
breast tissue when he told me

he'd removed it, it's always
in the back of my mind

that cancer could return.

You know, I was so angry.

He'd mutilated me just for money.

SHAUN LINTERN: Paterson
exploited weaknesses

in the health care system.

We know that activity equals money.

So there is that financial incentive
in the private sector.

And the more they do,
the more they earn.

And Paterson exploited
that system ruthlessly.

He was one of the most productive
in terms of volume of patients

he was going through
for those hospitals,

bringing in this avalanche of cash.

A doctor is in a unique position to
be able to execute fraud like this

because there is that
element of trust.

He also has that authority
and power position.

This shows that Mr Paterson
is a con artist

of the most callous nature.

To prey on people's
vulnerabilities and fears

for his own benefit just shows
that he has no moral boundaries.

It was everywhere. It was in the
local press, the national press,

radio stations.

NEWS REPORTER: Up to 1,000 women
may have been affected by this.

There could be up to 700 cases of
unregulated mastectomy procedures

and up to 450 women may have
undergone unnecessary operations.

West Midlands Police have now
launched a criminal investigation.

This was the platform we needed
to get the volume of cases

coming in because then we had
around 400 new instructions.

Initially, there were
two types of claim

of what Mr Paterson was doing.

Either an under treatment,

cleavage-sparing mastectomies,

where an inadequate amount of
breast tissue had been taken out

which allowed the possible
recurrence of breast cancer.

Or people who actually didn't have
breast cancer

and Mr Paterson was carrying out
surgery as if they had.

It makes your blood curdle
that he's abused them to that level.

My view at that time was
just take them all on.

We need to act
for all of these women.

If they've told us that they've
had an operation by Paterson,

then we're going to
look at their case.

This Paterson case is so much larger
than any of the other group actions

against an individual surgeon
that we've ever had.

It made me very determined we
should be able to get compensation

for all of them,

but also criminal charges
against Mr Paterson.

After amassing evidence
against Ian Paterson,

the police charge him and
set a date for trial.

This is not just incompetence,
this is brutality.

This person is pretending
to be somebody who's saving women,

but actually he's taking
money from them.

But he's also harming them
physically and also medically.

Following a criminal investigation,

surgeon Mr Ian Paterson
is facing 17 charges

of wounding with intent

and three charges of
unlawful wounding.

I didn't feel up to
going to the trial.

I didn't like the idea of
being in the same room as him,

but lots of other people did go.

DEBBIE: I was with another Paterson
patient who's a friend,

and we would very often
travel together to Nottingham

because we both wanted to see
what was happening.

I wanted to see his face,
I wanted to look him in the eye.

In February 2017, the trial
against Ian Paterson begins

at Nottingham Crown Court.

KASHMIR UPPAL: The Crown Prosecution
decided to take

a cross-section of cases and limit
the number of victims named

in the criminal case to ten,

and those cases were reflective
of the general pattern

of treatment that
these people had had.

The expert witness,
Gordon Wishart, gave evidence,

and he was categorical that these
operations were not necessary,

that what he'd done had been
assaults on these patients.

Each of the ten patients chooses
to take to the stand

to provide testimony against
their former doctor.

LINDA MILLBAND: It was really
unnerving having to listen to it,

having to do it in
front of Mr Paterson.

It was the first time they'd
seen him outside the surgery.

And since knowing
that their terrible wounds

and injuries were caused as a result
of totally unnecessary surgery.

One of the women, I think he
must have done six operations,

and then he did a mastectomy and
there was nothing wrong with her.

The psychological impact
that's had on her life.

Watching her give evidence,
it was really, really hard.

And family members were so upset.

I felt really angry thinking,

"You did all these
unnecessary operations on her

"and now you made her come to court,
stand here,

"say everything that happened to her

"and then be cross-examined,"
that...that...

Oh, I thought that was...

..quite barbaric.

The testimonies provide
new insights into how Paterson

manipulated his patients
over a period of several years.

SHAUN LINTERN: Paterson sold the
cleavage-sparing mastectomies

as a kind of solution to the
cosmetic appearance, if you like.

It would be good for them,
good for the husbands.

He was helping them,
and that wasn't the case.

DEBBIE: I don't think
he likes women.

He obviously saw them
in a sexual way

because he's projecting how he
feels onto their body image.

We heard everything.

How he became quite adept at
knowing people were vulnerable

and saying the right words
to think they had cancer

and that the only way to be sure
is to get that cut out.

He had no empathy for you.

What he also did, he'd say,

"Have you got a sister?
This is hereditary."

I know one woman, not just her, but
two of her sisters were affected

because he used that in pulling
other people into his business.

He wasn't just doing breast surgery,

he was also doing all these kinds of
procedures and invasive surgeries.

His first port of call was always,
"We need to cut it out."

So, for me, he had this kind of
twisted thing about his scalpel

and cutting into people. And there
was a kind of a power thing there

with him as well. A man was
given 14 colonoscopies.

So this was all based on him putting
the fear of God into that person.

I truly believe there was an element
of him enjoying that.

DR ELISABETH CARTER: What Paterson
did is for his own gratification.

This shows a level of malevolence
beyond the financial.

It shows a power play
feeding his ego.

He is able to perform any kind
of surgeries on individuals

just because he wants to,

and it is completely
dark and disturbing.

I know he's a con artist.
100% con artist.

After listening to his
former patients testify,

Ian Paterson takes to the stand
to defend himself.

He smiled at me, but the look
on my face, he knew straight away,

"Oh, clearly she's not here
to support me."

He defended it, saying that those
operations were required,

but clearly they weren't.

LINDA MILLBAND: He looked
as if he was the victim.

Just looking totally innocent,

looking at everybody with disdain

and not really as if he understood
what he was there for.

There was no suggestion
of any remorse whatsoever.

His defence solicitor basically
gave out all his good attributes.

He trained at Harvard, he did a
paper, he played rugby for Ireland.

He painted this picture
of a really fantastic man,

and I was getting angry
listening to it.

When are they going to
start questioning him?

When are they going to ask
about what he's done to people?

I phoned my husband and said,
"He's going to get away with this.

"You know, I think he's
winning them over."

In April 2017, following
a seven-week trial,

the jury announces that
it has reached a verdict

on the case against Ian Paterson.

We ran so quickly back
to the courtroom.

We were desperate to get
there to hear the verdicts.

Thankfully, we got to
the public gallery

and then the judge said
to the jury foreman,

"How do you find?"

And it was, "Guilty,
guilty, guilty."

SARAH JANE: Kashmir texted one word,
"Guilty."

I'm like, "Oh, my God! Oh, my God."

You know, thank God.

Thank God.

JADE: I guess it felt like justice,

but I think it took a
good while to process

what that actually then meant.

The ripple effect of those affected
is not just that person,

it goes so wide.

DEBBIE: I managed to find a
quiet corner in the court.

I ran up a flight of stairs
where there was nobody

and I rang Bob and I broke
the news to him.

"He's guilty. He's
been found guilty."

And Bob was, "Yes! Yes!"

Just felt such relief.

KASHMIR UPPAL: There was a real
sense of camaraderie there.

We felt, "Gosh, yeah,
we've done it."

We owe it to them for being so
brave, for telling their story.

Today, the consultant Ian Paterson

has been sentenced to 15 years in
prison for his terrible crimes.

But I'm sure many of the victims
will say that 15 years

is not nearly long enough.

It will take a very, very long time
for that trust to be rebuilt

between the public and the
medical professionals.

All of that was
completely unnecessary.

Like, it didn't need to happen.

Like, if that was my daughter now,

that's when it makes me
really angry.

All the unnecessary trauma,
especially at such a vulnerable age

between those years of,
like, 16 and 19.

That is when you're starting
to discover who you are as a person.

Could that have impacted
on who I am today?

Probably.

In August 2017,

following an appeal by
the Solicitor General,

the court increases Ian Paterson's
sentence to 20 years.

Ian Paterson was able
to harm people.

He was able to make money
off that harm, which is appalling.

He's one of the worst criminals
that we've seen in the NHS

and the private sector for decades.

Despite being put behind bars,

dozens of inquests are ongoing

which will determine whether more
of Ian Paterson's patients

died an unnatural death as
a result of his treatment.

We know the coroner is looking
at deaths of Ian Paterson patients.

These relate to patients who had

the cleavage-sparing mastectomy

and then went on to have
a recurrence of cancer

and sadly died.

To see a doctor like Paterson

is really sad to see because it
threatens the reputation of us all.

I think one thing that we should
strive to do is to understand

how they've existed in plain sight.

Debbie continues to campaign
for the recommendations

of the government-led inquiry
into Paterson to be implemented.

To date, more than 750 former
patients have received compensation

for the suffering they endured
at his hands.

But for them and many others,

the physical and emotional scars
they bear may never heal.

You've got people who are
just utterly devastated

by what's happened.

People who, like me,
have avoided any other doctor.

People who are absolutely
terrified of anything like that.

My kids, I mean, they had to watch
me go through all of this.

And I think it's harder to
watch somebody than it is to

go through it yourself.

I'm not being overdramatic
when I say he's probably

shortened my life because all
I needed was a lumpectomy.

But I have been through
invasive surgery,

chemo that poisons your system.

It really sickens me to think
that he was such a trusted person.

You wouldn't ever suspect
that he was cutting people's flesh

for money and telling them
they had cancer when they didn't.

You know, that sickens me.

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