A British surgeon who performed unnecessary bowel operations, using artificial mesh, and leaving dozens of patients in agony, has been struck off the roll despite denying the allegations, reports the BBC.
In two separate tribunals, Tony Dixon was found to have performed operations on five patients without obtaining or documenting informed consent and that one of these procedures was not clinically indicated: he also failed to provide post-operative care.
The Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service ordered that Dixon be removed from the medical register, its report saying he “demonstrated a persistent lack of insight into the seriousness of his actions, not only for patients and colleagues, but also for public confidence in the medical profession”.
Dixon, a fully registered doctor of 41 years, was also found to have dishonestly created patient records long after he was involved in their care.
A former patient said she was “delighted” with the outcome, and that “it should have happened a long time ago”.
The decision follows an investigation by the BBC and a review by Bristol’s Southmead Hospital and Spire Hospital, which found more than 200 patients were harmed after Dixon operated on them unnecessarily.
Southmead Hospital’s investigation, in 2023, found non-surgical treatments should have been offered instead.
The BBC first revealed allegations made against Dixon in 2017, when many women complained of severe pain after their operations, during which he used a technique known as mesh rectopexy to treat bowel problems.
Falsified medical records
Although the tribunal received testimonials that spoke very highly of Dixon, including from numerous former patients who said he had helped them, and that he was “extremely well thought of by his peers”, nevertheless, “he had not taken any steps to remediate his serious misconduct”, the report said.
The allegations ranged from 2007 to 2017. He was suspended by the tribunal service last year.
The General Medical Council, which brought the case against Dixon to the tribunal service, said the falsified medical records were created to purposefully “mislead the reader about aspects that (he) knew to be of particular concern in respect of his conduct”.
Despite Dixon not obtaining any financial gain from his dishonesty, the tribunal report said, he stood to gain personally by seeking to protect his professional reputation, thus placing his own interests above those of his patients.
BBC article – Surgeon struck off after patients left in agony (Open access)
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