2022 Winner
DEBBIE DOUGLAS
Campaigning victim of disgraced Birmingham surgeon Ian Paterson – who led the fight for justice and has been a source of constant support to others.
Debbie Douglas was one of thousands of patients who suffered at the hands of jailed surgeon, Ian Paterson.
Paterson was found to have carried out needless breast operations on more than 1,000 women in the West Midlands and mis-treated 11,000 others over a 14-year period. He convinced cancer patients to undergo surgery in NHS and private hospitals by inventing or exaggerating the risks of cancers. He also performed unrecognised ‘cleavage-sparing’ operations which left patients at risk of their cancer returning.
Patterson was convicted of 17 counts of wounding with intent in 2017, and jailed for 20 years. Police are currently investigating the deaths of 23 of his patients.
Debbie, 63, has been leading the fight for justice for these victims over a decade. Nicknamed the ‘Erin Brockovich of Birmingham’ – after the campaigning American activist – she helps run victim support group Breast Friends in Solihull and has fought for victims to be listened to and for hospitals to change the way surgical practices are run.
The mother-of-three also spearheaded demands for an independent inquiry into how Paterson’s criminal activities went undiscovered and called for the deaths of some of his patients to be reviewed.
She underwent an unapproved cleavage-sparing mastectomy which left her in horrendous pain. She later learned her cancer was not serious enough to warrant a mastectomy or the seven months of chemotherapy she endured.
As she says: “We have fought to be heard and we have come so far. But I can’t be satisfied because people have died, and nothing can bring them back.”