Liposuction patients 'left in agony'

Dr Norton faces the GMC

An doctor's blunder left a woman conscious during a liposuction operation, a disciplinary hearing has been told.

Dr Thomas Norton, a GP, also practised as a plastic surgeon - despite having had no formal training, the General Medical Council heard.

He was legally allowed to carry out the procedures, despite never having trained in surgery and anaesthesia.

Dr Norton was also accused of "wholesale and symptomatic failure" in his treatment of two other patients.

I remember shouting out then I heard Dr Norton say: 'Christ, get this woman back under'

Former patient

One patient, described only as Mrs W, from Sheffield, woke up during an operation to remove fat from her hips and waist.

She described how she could feel fat being injected back into her breasts before being put back under anaesthetic.

Mrs W said she remembered "Waking up in tremendous pain"

She said: "I remember shouting out then I heard Dr Norton say: 'Christ, get this woman back under'.

"Those words will stay with me for ever, as they have for the past eight years."

After the operation, she returned to the Transform Clinic in Sheffield complaining of pain, and was told she needed a second operation.

Again, during this, she woke up from the anaesthetic.

Poking rods

Richard Tyson, the GMC's counsel, told the hearing: "Unfortunately for her, she again experienced enormous pain.

"She again woke up during the operation and felt rods being poked into her rib area."

Dr Norton is accused of failing to give her a proper examination prior to surgery, failing to make adequate records of her medical history, and failed to get consent from her for the operation.

He is also accused of failing to supervise her sedation during both procedures.

The GMC was told that Dr Norton spoke to Mrs W spoke to her for only five minutes prior to the first operation - telling her that he had just been caught for speeding in his Porsche.

In the second case, a music teacher, referred to as Mr B, also said he felt pain during an operation - waking up to see white liquid being pumped from his abdomen into glass jars.

He went to A&E on two different occasions complaining of pain in the operative wound.

Serious infection

Another patient, Mrs P, needed to be admitted to hospital for two months after her wound became infected following liposuction performed by Dr Norton.

After the operation, the GMC was told, she was given some dressings and a waterproof mat and sent home in a taxi.

A week later, when a nurse visited to remove her stitches, she was found to have an injection in her abdominal wall.

Dr Norton denies the accusations of serious professional misconduct.

The hearing continues.