Coroners consider systemic failings in deaths of patients of convicted breast surgeon

Coroners have opened an inquest into the deaths of four patients of the rogue breast surgeon Ian Paterson after concluding that some patients may have died of unnatural causes.

Opening the inquests into the deaths of four women from breast cancer, Birmingham and Solihull senior coroner Louise Hunt said she and area coroner Emma Brown would also consider the actions of other clinicians who worked alongside Paterson, and possible failings by management and regulators.

The move comes after West Midlands Police asked Hunt last January to review a random selection of Paterson’s cases. The …