Bristol doctor failed to get surgery consent then dismissed patient as 'drama queen', tribunal told

A Bristol doctor failed to gain surgery consent and then dismissed the female patient as a "drama queen," a medical tribunal has heard.

Consultant Anthony Dixon is said to have told his patient "it can't be all that bad" when she returned to him following her surgery.

She was allegedly in “severe pain” after earlier undergoing a revision of a procedure known as LVMR (laparoscopic ventral mesh rectopexy).

Mr Dixon appeared at a Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service hearing in Manchester on Tuesday 12 September, where he is accused of misconduct in relation to six patients.

He denies the allegations against him.

In May 2022, North Bristol NHS Trust admitted more than 200 patients had been given unnecessary bowel operations by Mr Dixon.

A review found dozens of people suffered harm after the consultant gave them pelvic floor surgery using artificial mesh, a technique he had pioneered.

He worked at the trust’s Southmead Hospital and also at the private Spire Hospital in the city during the time of the allegations between 2010 and 2016.

The tribunal heard that a woman, known as Patient B, attended Spire Hospital in July 2016 for revision of a LVMR procedure.

Chloe Fairley, for the General Medical Council (GMC), said following the operation that Mr Dixon made remarks that he “could have made her pregnant on the operating table”.

Patient B was discharged four days after surgery but returned with her husband days later in “severe pain”.

Ms Fairley said when Mr Dixon arrived and saw them, he called Patient B “a drama queen," adding "it can't be all that bad."

Ms Fairley also told the hearing that Patient B claims Mr Dixon patted her on the bottom in a lift as she was going home, which was witnessed by her husband.

Mr Dixon is said to have failed to ensure the procedure was clinically indicated in that he did not arrange all necessary tests and investigations beforehand.

He also allegedly did not obtain informed consent and failed to provide adequate post-operative care.

The doctor is also accused of performing an inadequate stapled haemorrhoidectomy on a woman without informed consent.

The tribunal was told Patient F had not wanted stapling, or anything permanent, left in her body.

She only discovered stapling had been inserted when she underwent an MRI scan some 10 weeks after the operation which had left her in pain and also incontinent.

Ms Fairley said Mr Dixon’s response was that she was “lucky he had performed the procedure” and he dismissed her complaints.

It is also said that Mr Dixon’s professional performance was deemed as unacceptable by independent GMC assessors in November and December 2018.

His assessment and clinical management of pelvic floor patients was said to be below standard, as was his working relationships with colleagues, especially his “disrespectful” behaviour to junior colleagues.

The hearing is scheduled to last until late November.

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