More than 200 women were injured when a child surgeon operated on them unnecessarily, according to an NHS investigation.
Some of the women were left with physical problems that changed their lives or were unable to work, while many also suffered trauma and severe psychological damage as a result.
A total of 203 women Anthony Dixon conducted proceedings between 2007 and 2017 were harmed, according to a review by the North Bristol NHS Trust (NBT). Dixon, who for years was Britain’s most influential pelvic surgeon, worked for both the trust and the city’s private Spire Hospital.
In 2017, NBT launched a review of Dixon’s performance and suspended him after dozens of women he had performed procedures on complained that they had experienced dire consequences, such as uncontrollable pain and incontinence. The Guardian revealed in late 2017 that 100 women were suing him for medical malpractice. Some cases have been resolved since then, but dozens are ongoing.
NBT fired Dixon in 2019 and is currently banned from exercising in the UK.
During the review, 378 women were recalled and asked to present their dealings with Dixon. They had all undergone a procedure called laparoscopic ventral mesh rectopexy (LVMR), in which a plastic mesh is inserted to repair the weakened tissue in the pelvic floor.
In documents submitted to the NBT board on Thursday, board members were told the investigation had been completed. “The trust has notified 203 NHS patients that while their LVMR operation was successful, they should have been offered alternative treatments before undergoing surgery. We have defined these patients as as a result of “damage,” he said.
Anthony Dixon is not currently licensed to practice surgery. Photography: NHS
The trust set up a group of expert clinical advisors to assess what had happened to each of the 378 women. He found that of the 218 women Dixon had operated on at Southmead Hospital, 110 were injured. And among 169 other NHS patients who underwent LVMR at Spire Hospital, 93 suffered from pain.
Another 175 women who were treated at the two facilities were not harmed and there were also nine other cases in which the clinical counseling group was unable to reach a conclusion.
Luke Trevorrow, a lawyer who specializes in the medical malpractice of lawyers for Irwin Mitchell, one of the companies representing Dixon’s victims, said: “For many years, patients have had serious concerns about whether the procedures to submit were the right ones.Unfortunately, the findings of the trust itself have now claimed these fears.
“This latest information is incredibly worrying and has caused great distress to our clients, many of whom continue to experience physical and psychological problems after surgery.”
The result of the investigation was first reported by the BBC’s West Health correspondent Matthew Hill. The trust summed up the findings in a five-page update that included 157 pages of documents that its board was due to discuss Thursday. NBT did not alert the media that it was finally publishing the details of a major investigation that had taken almost five years to complete.
Annette Whiting, 62, of Bristol, one of the people with whom Dixon did LVMR, told the BBC: “I felt raped. Beyond angry, beyond annoying.
“It affects your daily life. It hurts your body, you have to run to the bathroom, you have no control over it.”
The trust said that for the 203 patients, “the damage is defined as undergoing an operation that may not have been required, where other less invasive options could have been offered first, even when the LVMR procedure is performed. performed with the appropriate clinical standard. ”
NBT said it deeply regretted the suffering Dixon had inflicted by doing LVMR.
A spokesman for the General Medical Council, which regulates the medical profession, confirmed that Dixon does not currently have a license to practice medicine “pending [the] conclusion of the aptitude investigations for the practice ”.