I thought my insides bulging into my vagina was as bad as it gets – then an arrogant surgeon ruined my life
A WOMAN whose life was ”ruined” by mesh bowel surgery says she was forced to fork out £70,000 on corrective procedures.
Paula Goss, 54, underwent the operation to fix her pelvic floor in 2014 – at the hands of Dr Anthony Dixon.
She had sought his help for pain in her bowel that left her unable to relieve herself.
Dixon had been considered a leading UK pelvic surgeon for years and pioneered the use of artificial mesh to lift prolapsed bowels (when they bulge out of the anus) – a technique known as laparoscopic ventral mesh rectopexy (LVMR).
Six months after the “failed” operation at Southmead Hospital, Bristol, Paula was left unable to go to the toilet at all.
She couldn’t even leave her home as she ”always needed to be near the bathroom”.
Despite pushing the NHS for corrective surgery, Paula was forced to seek private treatment.
Five years after the original operation, in 2019, she paid £32,000 to have the mesh successfully removed.
She had to pay a further £43,000 for a private hernia operation in November 2019 due to the damaging effects of the mesh.
Dixon was reported to the General Medical Council (GMC) in 2015 and suspended in 2017.
He was eventually dismissed by the hospital trust in 2019.
A broader investigation by North Bristol NHS Trust found 203 patients suffered harm at Dixon’s hands due to unnecessary procedures, as well as 259 patients from his time at Spire Bristol Hospital.
Despite this, a tribunal carried out by the Medical Practitioners Service in July 2024, concluded that a six-month suspension was “appropriate”.
He no longer works as a doctor.
Paula, a part-time driver from Bristol, South Gloucestershire, said: “I have no feeling from the waist down to the pubic bone across the whole of my abdomen.
“He’s ruined my life and I haven’t had a full night’s sleep in over 10 years because the pain gets worse when I lie down for long periods.
“I can’t even recognise parts of my body because it’s changed so much, including no longer having a belly button.
“I haven’t been the bubbly, happy-go-lucky person I used to be.
“If my husband didn’t have a life insurance payout, we would’ve never been able to afford my private treatment.
“Having the tribunal hanging over our heads was terrible and their findings are a kick in the teeth.
“It’s an injustice to everything we’ve been put through and I believe there are hundreds more victims out there.”
WATERMELON-SIZED TUMOUR
Paula’s ordeal began in 2009 after a fibroid the size of a watermelon was found growing in her womb.
She had a successful hysterectomy but three years later she visited her local GP with bowel issues.
Paula, who is married to Kevin Goss, 62, a financial advisor, was referred to surgeon Dixon at Southmead General Hospital in September 2011.
Two years later, Dixon diagnosed her with full bowel and bladder prolapse – when the muscles and ligaments that support the pelvic organs become weakened and the organs drop down.
But she later found out that she’d actually suffered a rectocele – a prolapse of the wall between the rectum and vagina.
I was desperate and in pain – and my doctor preyed on that vulnerability
Paula Goss
Dixon recommended rectopexy surgery, which required the insertion of surgical mesh in the rectum and vaginal areas to repair damaged or weakened tissue.
“I wouldn’t say I trusted Dixon, I thought he was odd and arrogant.” Paula said.
“He only ever referred to the procedure to me as LVMR.
“But I’d always put my trust in the NHS and you never questioned surgeons.
“I was desperate and in pain – Dixon preyed on that vulnerability.”
On August 26, 2014, Paula underwent the four-hour procedure, but she noticed no improvement in her condition and six months later, she was back to her GP.
The mum-of-one was left in excruciating pain, constantly bloated and unable to go to the toilet.
A Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) panel deemed that Dixon failed to adequately outline treatment options in a consultation with one patient and that a choice of no treatment was not discussed.
An expert in litigation told Paula the correct course of treatment would’ve been a posterior fascial repair – a procedure that involves repairing the weakened connective tissue.
“When I went back to the GP, they kept telling me to take more painkillers, but they block you up even more – it was a vicious cycle,” Paula said.
“I’d put my trust in the hospital who backed Dixon; it felt like they were dismissing the excruciating pain I was in.
“I was begging them to do anything to put me out of my misery.”
From 2015 to 2018, Paula continued to go to her GP, but in March 2019 was forced to seek advice from private specialists in London.
She underwent five operations in 10 months costing £32,000 to reconstruct her abdominal and remove the mesh put in by Dixon.
That same year, Paula received a letter from North Bristol NHS Trust saying she was a patient harmed by Dixon.
The complications of surgical mesh
SURGICAL mesh is used to support or replace body tissue that has become weak or is no longer there.
There are many types, some of which are used in rectal prolapse and rectocele surgery.
Some are absorbed by the body, while others remain there permanently, and there are some designed to become part of the body’s normal tissue over time.
Generally, surgical mesh is safe and most people never have a problem.
But complications can occur. These can include:
- Erosion, where the mesh wears through tissues over time and protrudes through the wall of the bowel
- Contraction – shortening or tightening of the mesh over time can cause vaginal shortening, tightening or pain
- Scar tissue, making the rectum and vagina stiffer
- Infections
- Nerve damage
- Faecal and urinary incontinence
How to know if there is a problem with your mesh:
- Pain in the back, tummy, vagina, back passage, leg and inner thigh
- Discharge or bleeding from the bowel or vagina
- Pain during sex for you or your partner
- Frequent urinary tract infections
- Worsening problems with having to rush to the toilet or going to the toilet more often to urinate
If you are concerned, speak to your surgeon.
Source: The Pelvic Floor Society and NHS
Although concerns about Dixon’s practice were first raised in 2013, it wasn’t until 2015 that he was reported to the GMC by his patients.
He was suspended for six months in 2017. Tribunal documents state that this period was considered “appropriate and proportionate”.
“It would allow Mr Dixon sufficient time to develop further insight into his actions and remediate his misconduct,” it adds.
He was eventually sacked by North Bristol NHS Trust and The Spire in 2019 after it found that 203 others had suffered harm due to his “unnecessary” procedures.
But Paula believes that there are more victims out there.
In 2019, she set up the Facebook group, Rectopexy Mesh Victims and Support, for other victims of Dixon, which now has over 2,200 members.
Paula said: “Like so many others, I’ve felt betrayed by the trust with devastating consequences.
“I’ve had sleepless night after night from the painful effects of Dixon’s surgery.
“It’s taken a long time for our voices to be heard but I don’t believe justice has been done because there are so many more victims out there.
“We are pursuing claims for more than 400 hundred mesh-injured women and men, but there are thousands more who trusted their surgeons and were also injured through no fault of their own.
“We can’t take their pain or suffering away, but what we can do is help hold those responsible to account and, in turn, help prevent others from experiencing such a horrific ordeal.”
A tribunal considered 218 patients in detail who underwent LVMR surgery at Southmead Hospital, of which it concluded 110 came to harm.
It also looked at 169 NHS patients operated on by Dixon at the private Spire Hospital, in Redland, of which it found 93 came to harm.
Dixon, who is no longer registered with the GMC, maintains the operations were carried out in good faith and that any surgery carried the risk of further complications.
North Bristol NHS Trust Chief Medical Officer, Tim Whittlestone, said: “Mr Dixon was dismissed in 2019.
“We have carried out a thorough and robust review of affected patients, and would like to reiterate our apology to all of these individuals.”
If you’ve been affected by this story, search for the group Rectopexy Mesh Victims and Support on Facebook.