Suspended surgeon aims to return

The GMC had suspended the surgeon

A plastic surgeon accused of botching operations on dozens of women says he intends to practise again as a doctor.

David Herbert, of Newark, Nottinghamshire, had voluntarily removed his name from the General Medical Council (GMC) register.

Now he says the move is only a temporary measure.

A former patient of Mr Herbert told BBC News Online she was "disgusted" by this news.

Upset patients

Mr Herbert, 62, who worked in Cambridgeshire, Nottingham, London and Preston, had been suspended from practising as a doctor since August 2000.

He was due to go before a GMC panel to put his case this month but his decision to remove his name from the register means this hearing will not now take place.

I will do all I can to stop him getting his name back on the register

Kerstin Bryant, former patient

He has said he intends to practise again - if given permission by the GMC.

"I have decided to have my name temporarily removed from the medical register. I would like at some stage in the future to practise again," he said.

A former patient of Mr Herbert, Kerstin Bryant, said his comments will upset a lot of people he operated on.

"I could not believe what he had said. I think it is disgusting. I will do all I can to stop him getting his name back on the register," she said.

Ms Bryant suffered necrosis, a condition in which the skin dies, following a tummy tuck and liposuction in September 1998.

Medical ban

She said: "I have been very badly scarred.

"I refuse to undress in front of my husband, I can't wear the clothes I want to wear and, of course, mentally it does affect you."

The GMC told BBC News Online that Mr Herbert had exercised his right to take his name off the register on 4 April.

It means that he cannot undertake to perform any kind of medical practice within the UK.

The GMC said that Mr Herbert could apply to have his name restored to the register, but he would have to get the agreement of the GMC panel which had suspended him.