THREE patients were left in agony after waking up in the middle of botched liposuction operations, a General Medical Council hearing was told.

One woman paid £5,700 for fat to be removed from her waist and pumped into her breasts.

But she was left with a disfigured stomach and was admitted to Burnley General Hospital after the procedure carried out by Dr Thomas Norton -- who had no experience of liposuction.

She had to soak her body for eight hours to remove a bandage put on by the GP, and was so scarred by the operation she cannot wear a bikini, it is alleged.

A male patient paid £2,200 for fat to be extracted from his stomach but within three days he was in such pain he went to casualty.

All three patients had visited the Transform Clinic, a private practice in Wakefield, after answering magazine advertisements.

The GMC heard Dr Norton met patients for the first time just minutes before the operations and had only had a brief discussion.

An expert later blasted the doctor's conduct as 'thoroughly reprehensible' and pointed out that the procedure to firm the woman's breasts has since been discredited.

Richard Tyson, for the GMC, said: "Dr Norton is not a surgeon. He is a GP and has no post-registration experience or training in either surgery or anaesthesia. He has had a few months training in liposculpture. "This case demonstrates a wholesale and symptomatic failure by the doctor in all aspects of his technique and care of his patients. In each case he provided very poor pain relief and all patients either woke up or felt pain in the course of the procedure.

Dr Norton, registered at the Homestead Clinic, Homestead Drive, Wakefield, West Yorks, denies serious professional misconduct.

The third patient developed a deadly flesh-eating bug after having liposuction at Dr Norton's Transform Clinic in Altrincham.

The 58-year-old had to have a skin graft and was in hospital for two months after the fat-removing procedure left her with necrotising fascitis.

She handed over £4,500 for the treatment in October 1993 but it was the start of a nightmare, it is claimed.

Mr Tyson said: "During the procedure she was awake and shocked that she could feel much of what was going on.

It is claimed following the operation the woman was given two bandages and sent home in a cab. Within days black bubbles had appeared on the surface of her skin.

"She returned to the clinic and they sent her to Burnley General Hospital then transferred to the Royal Preston Hospital where she remained for two months and had two major operations."

A doctor who cared for her at that hospital later wrote: 'She got necrotising fascitis following liposuction performed by Dr Norton. She was in severe pain during the whole procedure, the whole of the abdomen was involved in necrotising fascitis.'

The woman made a full recovery following the skin grafts.

(Proceeding)