Ian Paterson: Convicted breast surgeon did not seek consent for “cleavage sparing” mastectomies

The rogue breast surgeon Ian Paterson has told a coroner’s court that he did not seek specific consent for the cleavage sparing mastectomies he carried out because the operation was merely an “adaptation” of the standard procedure, which did not need separate consent.

Giving evidence at an inquest into the death of Elaine Turbill, Paterson told Birmingham and Solihull Coroner’s Court that he had adapted the traditional mastectomy to allow more subcutaneous fatty tissue to remain. “It was a limited intraoperative adaptation,” he said. “It was done to improve cosmesis, and I never considered it to be a separate …