GP admits his treatment of patients 'fell short'
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Your support makes all the difference.A cosmetic surgeon who left a patient looking like "the Michelin Man" after transferring fat from one part of her body to another admitted yesterday that his treatment "fell short of what was required".
Dr Thomas Norton, from Wakefield, West Yorkshire, told a disciplinary hearing of the General Medical Council that he should have done more for the patients under his care, three of whom woke up during operations to remove fat from their abdomens. Dr Norton, a GP who had no training in surgery although he was legally qualified to carry out the procedure called liposuction, criticised the system that he was working under and vowed he would not do liposuction again.
He denies serious professional misconduct in his treatment of the three patients in 1993 and 1994 at the Sheffield and Manchester branches of the Transform Medical Group – Britain's biggest chain of private cosmetic clinics.
Dr Norton, 46, told the GMC's professional conduct committee in London: "I think at the time I always treated patients as individuals and I tried to act in their best interests and do my best for them. But in hindsight, I think it is fair to say that the treatment given fell short of what was required."
He started work at Transform in 1987 and conducted up to 200 liposuctions between 1993 and 1995 when he left the clinic.
He told the hearing: "In a commercially run private clinic there will be subtle pressure for the patient to go ahead with the procedure from [people] other than myself for financial incentives. There was pressure there in that patients wanted to go ahead, the counsellors wanted them to go ahead and I wanted to provide some information about what could be the effect."
He said he felt professionally "vulnerable" about working at Transform. "I began to get murmurs from outside the clinic that the general nature of the way we were carrying out treatment possibly did not tie in with what was good clinical practice. Obviously I had listened to good medical practice and GMC circulars over the period of 1994. I tried to limit my practice and become more aware of what was expected of me."
Earlier this week, a patient who paid £6,000 for a liposuction operation, wept as she recalled waking up under the knife to feel fat being pumped into her breast. The surgery to remove fat from her hips, waist and thighs and transfer it into her breasts to make them firmer has now been discredited. She said the operation left her looking like a "Michelin Man."
Dr Norton said the procedure had failed to provide "full and lasting" results. He denied shouting "Christ, get this woman back under." He admitted that his notes, which gave no indication of what anaesthetic had been used or in what quantity, were "pretty sloppy" and "not satisfactory."
The hearing continues.
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