Surrey businesswoman wins £6m payout over botched facelift

Penny Johnson sued Dr Le Roux Fourie after cosmetic procedures caused nerve damage and left her unable to work A businesswoman has been awarded nearly £6.2m in damages over a botched facelift after suing a plastic surgeon who she said had decided to “play God” with her life by carrying out experimental surgery. Penny Johnson, 49, took legal action against Dr Le Roux Fourie after a procedure in 2003 left her with nerve damage and what she described as a “monster eye” following the operation at Bupa Methley Park hospital in Leeds. Johnson, an IT and financial consultant from Godstone, Surrey, said she was unable to work and lost about £54m when her business went bankrupt. At the high court in February, Johnson asked Mr Justice Owen to award her a proportion of the £54m which she said was her potential loss, as a 50% shareholder, when Bishop Cavanagh failed in 2009. The judge gave his ruling in the case, in which Fourie admitted liability, and awarded her £6,190,884.92 for lost earnings. During the hearing Johnson said: “My face is constantly contracting, I don’t sleep and I have a permanent buzzing around my eye which can be so intense that I can’t think about anything.” Alain Choo Choy QC, for Fourie, who put the potential business loss at only £9m, did not accept the surgery was experimental. He said the claim that Johnson’s company lost out on a series of lucrative contracts was unrealistic and deluded. It was accepted that her injuries restricted her ability to work to some extent but the business had failed for unrelated commercial and economic reasons. During her absence, the company was managed by her husband, Peter, a businessman with whom she now owns another business, BC Direct, and other senior colleagues. The bulk of the award related to lost earnings, both past and future. In his ruling, the judge said that Johnson had been a confident, happy and outstandingly successful woman with a full and rewarding family and social life but the negligent surgery had had serious consequences – both physical and psychological – and resulted in a prolonged adjustment disorder with features of anxiety and depression. As he observed during the trial, the facial twitching she suffered was “virtually constant”. It was also clear that the injuries from the facelift and from the replacement of pre-existing breast implants, which was carried out at the same time, imposed very considerable stress upon her relationship with her husband. “Their marriage has survived; but the claimant said in evidence that she is no longer a wife to her husband. “He says that she is now a completely different person and that their marriage is not what it used to be. “They no longer go out together as they used regularly to do, and have become detached from the close knit group of friends whose company they used to enjoy.” He awarded a total of £80,000 damages for the facial disfigurement, the asymmetry and pain caused by the breast surgery and the psychological consequences of the injuries. Assessing Johnson’s claim for loss of earnings, the judge said that her projections were the product of her intense disappointment at the “devastating” consequences so far as the business of Bishop Cavanagh was concerned. “She has understandably become preoccupied by what might have been, which has affected her judgment as to what could and would in reality have been achieved.” It was clear to him that she had persuaded herself that its prospects were far better than could realistically be justified. As to residual earning capacity, it was clear that Johnson functioned intellectually at a very high level and continued to have the potential to deploy her outstanding abilities in the business context. But account had to be taken of the uncertain prognosis for her psychiatric symptoms. “Unless she makes a full recovery, and unless she recovers some vestige of her former self confidence, the prospect of engagement in business activities that involve face-to-face contact with others is limited.” Crime Plastic surgery Health & wellbeing Ben Quinn guardian.co.uk

Posted by on May 23, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.