Young mum tells of her hellish nightmares after shamed breast surgeon Ian Paterson ‘LIED’ and operated to remove her milk ducts to ‘save her from cancer’
Leanne Joseph says his actions left her with depression and severe obsessive–compulsive disorder and she's still haunted by his actions
A YOUNG mum who was mutilated by shamed surgeon Ian Paterson says she is haunted by him in a recurring nightmare.
Leanne Joseph told The Sun on Sunday how his actions had left her with depression and severe obsessive–compulsive disorder.
In 2006, at the age of 25, she had trusted Paterson completely when he operated to remove her milk ducts to “save her life” after telling her she was at risk of cancer.
But she later discovered it was a lie. She had not needed the painful and pricey op — the private treatment cost £10,000 — which stopped her breastfeeding her daughter Ruby.
Then, to add to her anguish, she learned that her ducts had in fact been left intact and she could have naturally fed her child all along.
On Friday at Nottingham Crown Court 59-year-old Paterson was found guilty of 17 counts of wounding with intent and three of unlawful wounding after he carried out hundreds of unnecessary operations on hospital patients in the West Midlands.
He was granted bail and is due to be sentenced next month.
Leanne, 36, found the courage to give evidence against Paterson in court but has been left with the same nightmare every time she sleeps.
She said: “I shout out in my sleep and wake up in a pool of sweat. I see Paterson in my dreams every single night.
“It’s the same nightmare over and over again where I am in the operating theatre and he is there operating on me but I can’t speak or escape.
“The man is a monster, he has destroyed my life. The mental scars are far worse than the physical.
I thought I'd die. I was only 25 and newly wed
Leanne Joseph
“I changed the day I had Ruby. I used to be carefree and fun and I feel sad that she will never know what I was like before.
“I always planned to have at least three children but after what I went through with Ruby I’ll never do it again. Becoming a mother was one of the worst experiences of my life.
“I was on a maternity ward with five other women who were all breastfeeding and I kept on having to explain why I couldn’t do it.
“That first night an older nurse came over and asked why I wasn’t breastfeeding Ruby.
“I explained yet again as everyone on the ward listened in, and I remember her saying, ‘Aren’t you the lucky one, but your poor baby won’t be getting those special nutrients.’
“I felt so inadequate. I felt I should not have brought a baby into the world knowing I could not give it the best start to life.”
Following Ruby’s birth in September 2008 Leanne’s life began to unravel. Her OCD left her in constant fear of her baby dying from an infection spread by germs.
She said: “It started in hospital when they came to do some tests on Ruby and I noticed that one of the nurses had a cold.
“I was so scared.
“I was watching her, thinking, ‘My baby is going to catch a cold’. I was just waiting for her to get ill, knowing it would be my fault for not being able to breastfeed.
“Paterson claimed mental health issues as a defence but he should try living in my shoes for the past decade.
“My life has been hell.”
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Leanne, 36, from Cheslyn Hay, Staffs, had first noticed something wrong with her breasts when she was a bridesmaid for her friend in September 2006.
When getting dressed for her big role she noticed a spot of “muddy” discharge in her bra.
She herself had recently got married, and it was husband Mark who found good online reviews of Ian Paterson’s work at the private Spire Little
Aston hospital in Sutton Coldfield and encouraged Leanne to make an appointment to get checked out.
She said of Paterson: “I warmed to him straight away. He had an excellent bedside manner and it was like nothing I had ever experienced before. He was kind and put me at ease.
“He said he would send me for an ultrasound and see me shortly after to discuss the results.”
But his manner changed after Leanne had the scan.
He is in my dreams. I shout out and wake up in a pool of sweat
Leanne Joseph
She said: “He looked at me with this solemn expression and told me I had pre-cancerous cells in my milk ducts. He told me I’d need an operation and I was terrified.
“It felt like a cancer diagnosis.
“I thought I would die. I was only 25 — it was a crushing blow.” Leanne even wrote goodbye letters to her new husband and family, convinced she would not survive going under the knife.
But by using overdrafts and family loans the couple scraped together the £10,000 which they estimate it cost them for time off work, medical scans, consultations and the surgery itself.
Leanne said: “I was so scared during the operation but Paterson held my hand as I went under and was so nice.
“I couldn’t have asked for anything better — which is what makes what he’s done so much worse.”
In 2011 Leanne was trying to rebuild her life when she was contacted by Paterson’s health practice.
She said: “A doctor broke the news that there had never been anything wrong with me. There wasn’t anything Paterson didn’t lie to me about. I was told my scans were completely normal. He treated me for things I didn’t actually have.
“My ducts were still connected and I could have breastfed the whole time.”
How did he get away with it for so long?
Leanne Joseph
She continued: “I think some of the procedures he did were for financial gain, but also he enjoyed being the hero.
“He seemed to get off on it.
“I was his biggest fan and I would have defended him completely before this.
“I even recommended him to my mother-in-law when she developed breast cancer — that’s how much I trusted him.”
Leanne, a former health and safety officer, added: “The two scars I have on my breasts look like smiley faces and I used to look at them and think they were a reminder of how lucky I was to still be alive.
“But now I can’t think about it or look at them — it has ruined my life. I haven’t worn a bikini since my honeymoon over ten years ago.
“He’s had a huge impact on my life. I’ve decided not to have any more children because of him.
“I really want people to know it’s OK to talk about mental health and also if you don’t want to breastfeed, or can’t, it doesn’t matter and you shouldn’t feel bad or ashamed.
“I still have the physical scars of what he’s done but it’s the mental scars that are the deepest.
“What’s worse is that he has been quite smug about the whole thing and denied everything, meaning it has dragged on and not allowed me to get closure.
“He has ruined so many lives — how can he carry on as normal?
“I have lots of unanswered questions about how he was able to get away with it for so long.
“There are all the people who worked around him who should have checked and who could have stopped this if they had spoken out.
“I want to see him go to prison for what he has done to me and the others.
“I am determined to move on with my life after this ordeal and come out the other side unbeaten."