Mum, 58, killed herself after operations failed to relieve pain - including one where ovaries were removed without consent

A mother killed herself after suffering years of pain from a vaginal mesh inserted to help with a bowel disorder.

An inquest also heard how a doctor removed 58-year-old Lucinda Methuen-Campbell's ovaries without her consent during one operation.

It was told how she went in for surgery to mend a bowel disorder - but came out without her ovaries.

The inquest also heard the surgeon told her afterwards that her ovaries were taken out "because they were in the way".

Mrs Methuen-Campbell chose the surgery at a private hospital performed by pioneering surgeon Tony Dixon in September 2016 after suffering years of pain from having vaginal mesh inserted to help with a bowel disorder.

But the mother-of-one was later found hanged after telling her ex-partner: "There didn't seem to be a way out of the pain."

Mr Dixon has built up an international reputation for using mesh to fix bowel problems - but is currently suspended from two hospitals in Bristol.

He is under investigation by the NHS which has referred him to the General Medical Council over the procedures.

Mrs Methuen-Campbell's ex-partner Philip Chatfield, a sculptor, said: "The pain continued to get worse and nobody seemed able to solve the problem.

"Mr Dixon performed the operation in 2016 with the mesh but it was unsuccessful and caused her to be in agony.


"She had a follow-up operation which made things even worse."

Mr Chatfield said that he had first met Mrs Methuen-Campbell when she was a English graduate and posed as a model for him - and the pair had a son, Angus.

The inquest heard 19-year-old Angus called his father after noticing something unusual at home in January this year.

Mr Chatfield found his ex-partner hanged in a room at the house, in the village of Three Crosses, near Swansea.

Nearby was a message from Mrs Methuen-Campbell to her son saying: "I'm sorry Angus, I love you, best son ever."

Swansea assistant coroner Aled Gruffydd said: "The operation on Mrs Methuen-Campbell was unsuccessful and made her pain worse and it affected her mental health."

Recording a suicide conclusion he said: "I'm satisfied without doubt that she intended to take her own life - the pain she was in led to her taking her own life.

"She left a note for her son apologising to him."

Student Angus said after the inquest: "She was in a great deal of pain after the operations and she was very upset that her ovaries had been removed."

In an interview before she died Mrs Methuen Campbell said she had not consented to the removal before the operation in 2016.

She said she had lengthy consultations with Mr Dixon before the operation at The Spire Hospital in Bristol.

He told her her problems were complex and involved surgery not just on her bowel but also her womb.

She said that the removal was never mentioned before the surgery, and if it had she would have been "vaguely prepared".

She said: "He said he thought he'd done me a favour. And he said: 'I thought you know, a woman of your age wouldn't really need her ovaries.'

"I said 'Why did you remove them?' and he just said 'They were in the way'.

"My life is absolutely ruined but you know, I can't say that it's Mr Dixon's ruined my life."

Mr Dixon built up an international reputation for using mesh rectopexy to fix bowel problems, often caused by childbirth, but is currently suspended from performing this surgery at two hospitals in Bristol.

The General Medical Council (GMC) has stopped him from performing another form of corrective surgery, known as a Starr procedure (stapled transanal resection of the rectum), until November 2018.

The NHS has now also referred him to the GMC over mesh procedures.

North Bristol NHS Trust is investigating the consultant, who worked at Southmead Hospital and at the private Spire Hospital in Bristol.

Mr Dixon has previously said all operations can have problems but his are done in good faith and the majority are successful.