Breast surgeon could be struck off after multiple claims

9th, July 2008

The GMC is to decide if a surgeon will be permanently barred from breast surgery, after being reported to them by lawyers.

Surgeon Brian Gwynn’s hearing reconvenes on 14 July in Manchester. His errors first came to light in 2003 when Tracy Todd sued the surgeon after her breast reduction operation in September 2002. She was left with ‘horrific’ wounds, infections, and misshapen breasts of different sizes. She required corrective surgery.

Law firm Irwin Mitchell reported Mr Gwynn to the GMC after a number of clinical negligence cases. The firm has been contacted by 17 women claiming negligence by Mr Gwynn, instructed on 12 cases and have settled five cases against him.

He was first ordered to appear before the GMC’s Interim Orders Panel, in November 2005 where an 18-month ban was imposed preventing him from carrying out breast surgery. He has been barred from surgery since this original ban (with reviews carried out every six months). The latest ruling will decide whether he is permanently barred from breast surgery.

Mr Gwynn operated privately at Rowley Hall Hospital in Stafford and with the NHS at Stafford General Hospital.

Lawyer Ally Taft said: "As a clinical negligence solicitor I am accustomed to seeing many cases in which claims arise due to one-off errors of judgement or system failures not entirely of an individual clinician’s making.

"I rarely feel the need to involve the GMC in any of my cases. However, with these particular cases such was the extent of my clients’ injuries – and my concern that these women were only the tip of the iceberg - that I took the decision to report Mr Gwynn’s practices to the GMC’s Fitness to Practice Directorate.”

The hearing should last for approximately three weeks.

Breast surgeon could be struck off after multiple claims

The GMC is to decide if a surgeon will be permanently barred from breast surgery, after being reported to them by lawyers.

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