Victims' lawyer says Ian Paterson sentence sends out warning

Kashmir Uppal, who pushed the police to press criminal charges against Paterson, now wants a public inquiry into how the surgeon was able to practice for years despite repeated warnings by NHS managers about his techniques.

The specialist medical negligence solicitor, whose husband Paul Uppal is contesting the Wolverhampton South West seat for the Conservatives in next week’s general election, was at Nottingham Crown Court on Wednesday for the sentencing.

The 49-year-old lawyer has been working with Paterson’s former patients since 2010. She told the Express & Star: ‘I’m disappointed on behalf of my clients with the sentence but accept that this was at the upper end under sentencing guidelines that the judge had to follow.

“Paterson didn’t meet the criteria for a life sentence but 15 years is as much as we could have hoped for, and the judge got it right when he highlighted Paterson’s arrogance, the way he manipulated his victims and his God-like tendencies.

"I feel relieved that justice has been done, he got his just desserts.

“This was a surgeon of some seniority who was carrying out unnecessary operations on so many patients over such a long period of time and found guilty of very, very serious charges.I hope that this severe sentence has sent out a warning to other potential rogue doctors who believe they can practice like this in this way and get away with it.”

She called for a public inquiry into the Paterson case but in the short-term wants to see a review into the working practices of doctors working in both the NHS and private sector.

And she called on other medical staff with concerns about a senior colleague to report them to the General Medical Council.

She warned: “Staff have a duty not only to speak to their hospital trusts but to go outside their place of work and contact the GMC - there will be penalties if they fail to do so.”

Paterson, 59, was convicted of 17 counts of wounding with intent and three of unlawful wounding against 10 private patients.

Afterwards it emerged the NHS has already spent nearly £18 million settling more than 250 civil claims arising from his actions. Lawyers say the total number of Paterson’s victims is likely to exceed 1,000.

Mrs Uppal, who now works for Access Legal, was the lead solicitor in the case and continues to represent women and men treated by Paterson in the private health sector as Spire maintains that the surgeon was not their employee and therefore they are not liable. These claims are expected to be finally resolved in October.