The Cost of Trust: The new 2026 true story exposing the ‘Butcher Surgeon’ and the scandal that shamed British medicine

This is the story of one of the most horrifying scandals in British medical history. In 2003, Deborah Douglas was diagnosed with breast cancer by Ian Paterson, a surgeon based in the Midlands.Over the next seven years, Deborah placed her trust in Paterson, undergoing a mastectomy, reconstructive surgery, and extensive chemotherapy under his care - only to discover that her cancer diagnosis had been exaggerated and her treatment was totally unnecessary.Deborah was not alone; in 2017, Paterson, infamously dubbed the ‘Butcher Surgeon,’ by the media, was convicted of 17 counts of wounding with intent and three counts of unlawful wounding and sentenced to 20 years in prison.These were just a fraction of his victims. He deceived thousands of patients during his tenure as both an NHS and private surgeon. The Cost of Trust is a shocking work of investigative journalism that unveils the true extent of this medical atrocity.Authored by Deborah Douglas with writer Tracy King - also a casualty of