Mum Whose Confidence ‘Hit The Floor’ Following Private Procedure Hoping For Answers

A Worcester woman has spoken of her quest for answers to determine whether breast reduction surgery, designed to reduce years of pain she experienced, was carried out negligently. 

Mum-of-two Samantha Sill underwent surgery in April 2015 to reduce the size of her breasts from a J to a C cup after she struggled with shoulder, neck and back pain.

However, following the procedure she required months of care, including treatments such as steroid injections and the use of silicone gel. The 49-year-old was also left with dark purple scaring following the private procedure, which requires revision surgery.  Unfortunately, expert medical evidence suggests that further surgery is unlikely to resolve all of the problems that she has faced following the surgery in April 2015, which includes scaring and excessively high nipple position.

Following the surgery, Samantha instructed specialist medical negligence lawyers at Irwin Mitchell to investigate her care. Her legal team has now launched formal legal proceedings against Alberto di Giuseppe, the surgeon who carried out the original procedure. 

Mr Giuseppe, who continues to perform private treatment, originally failed to respond to the legal proceedings.  As a result the claimant made an application to the court for judgement by default.  This has since been set aside and Mr Giuseppe has filed a defence denying liability. The parties are now working to obtain and exchange evidence relating to their respective cases.  At this stage a trial date has not been set. 

Expert Opinion

“Samantha had hoped that the procedure would cure years of severe pain that she had experienced and improved her life. Instead the first-hand account about how she has continued to experience difficulties is extremely worrying.

"Initially the defendant in this case did not responded to our initial efforts to make contact and we were therefore left with no choice but to launch legal proceedings but again he did not file an acknowledgement of service and judgment was passed in our client’s favour by default.

“We would encourage Dr di Giuseppe to enter into constructive dialogue with regards to Samantha’s concerns so this case can be resolved at the earliest opportunity." Mandy Luckman - Director of Strategic Growth (Seriously Injured and Vulnerable Audience)

At the start of 2015 Samantha underwent an initial consultation regarding the surgery. That April she had surgery, which cost around £5,000, and was discharged from hospital two days later.

She recalled: “I felt very sick after the surgery but it was suggested that I just needed rest.

“I needed to attend hospital for checks on the wounds and for dressing changes for some time and I needed a lot of time off work. Then it was suggested I should have steroid injections, which I had to pay extra for.

“It was a very frustrating time and I gained around three stone in weight. The whole point of the surgery was to improve my life, so my confidence just hit the floor.

“I am completely devastated by everything I have been through and I just feel I deserve answers as to what went wrong.”

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