Ian Paterson inquests: Solihull breast op woman not given safest surgery

The hearing was told Mr Baker borrowed £12,000 to pay for the 2005 operation to be carried out privately after his wife was diagnosed with invasive cancer in her right breast.

He said she wanted a mastectomy without reconstruction because she didn’t want to take any risks but was advised it was the best option so she “went along with it”.

Mr Baker said he was told the 2005 surgery went well but he only found out in 2020 from an inquiry report there was a suggestion that tissue was “left behind” in the operation.

He said Paterson again suggested reconstructive surgery in 2007 but a multi-disciplinary team suggested that was not the right course of action, leaving the couple puzzled.

“I think people in the trust were starting to have concerns about Mr Paterson but we were totally unaware,” Mr Baker said.

He described how his wife was born and grew up in Stoke-on-Trent and went on to become an English teacher in a Birmingham secondary school.

He said they met in their 20s, “fell completely head over heels in love” and remained so for the next 35 years.