Hundreds of private patients of a Glasgow-born surgeon convicted of carrying out needless breast operations are seeking compensation over the "devastation" wreaked by his crimes.
The NHS alone has paid out nearly £18 million after settling the cases of more than 250 patients treated by top surgeon Ian Paterson, 59, who was described in court by one victim as being "like God".
On Friday he was convicted of 17 counts of wounding with intent and three counts of unlawful wounding against 10 patients, and one solicitor has said the rogue surgeon could have "hundreds, if not thousands" of other victims.
Now it has been announced that around 350 patients who underwent treatment privately at clinics owned by Spire Healthcare in the West Midlands are taking civil action against him and the firm.
Thompsons Solicitors, a firm representing the patients, said the company's treatment of those who complained was "shabby".
"We are determined to secure appropriate compensation for every single one of our clients, some of whom found the courage to come forward only as recently as four weeks ago," said Linda Millband, lead national lawyer at the firm.
"Spire needs to face up to its responsibilities, because they let him operate well after he was suspended by the NHS."
A Freedom of Information request by the Press Association revealed the NHS has resolved 256 cases, paying out £9.5 million in compensation and £8.2 million in costs, while a further 25 cases are still to be heard.
The surgeon, who was suspended by the General Medical Council in 2012, lied to patients and exaggerated or invented the risk of cancer in order to convince them to go under the knife.
Ms Millband said the "dangerous regulatory loophole" allowed Paterson to continue practising privately despite the ban.
The firm said: "Thompsons argue that the devastation wreaked by Mr Paterson was compounded by the Spire Group's shabby treatment of their former patients when they came forward to complain.
"In response the firm is launching an investigative campaign - Patients Before Profits - to explore how to close loopholes and drive private health providers to 'level up' to ensure private patients are guaranteed the same level and speed of response as those being treated on the NHS."
One victim of Scottish-born Paterson looked like a "car crash victim" after undergoing an unnecessary mastectomy while another had a "significant deformity in her visible cleavage area" after a pair of needless operations on her left breast.
The surgeon had maintained all the operations were necessary but a jury of six men and five women at Nottingham Crown Court agreed with the prosecution that Paterson carried out "extensive, life-changing operations for no medically justifiable reason".
His trial heard harrowing evidence from 10 patients treated in the private sector between 1997 and 2011 at the Little Aston and Parkway hospitals in the West Midlands, with one victim telling jurors: "That person has ruined my life."
Thomspons said it is "currently pursuing civil cases for around 350 patients who undertook treatment privately at Spire Parkway and Spire Little Aston".
A Spire Healthcare spokesman said on Friday: "What Mr Paterson did in our hospitals, in other private hospitals and in the NHS, absolutely should not have happened and today justice has been done.
"We would like to reiterate how truly sorry we are for the distress experienced by any patients affected by this case.
"We can say unequivocally that we have learned the lessons from these events.
"We commissioned a thorough independent investigation and have fully implemented all of the recommendations."
Judge Jeremy Baker granted Paterson bail until his sentencing next month, and added his sentence was "likely to be a custodial one".
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here