Neil Hopper appeared caring and compassionate when he treated Liz Spooner but years later, her daughter says she felt “sick” after learning the truth about him.
The daughter of a woman treated by disgraced NHS surgeon Neil Hopper has spoken out about meeting him for the first time and the horrifying discovery she made years later. At the time, Faye Harrison believed Hopper might have a special understanding of what her mother was going through.
He was a double amputee himself, or so she thought.
Hopper had become well known after claiming he lost both legs to sepsis in 2019. He later appeared publicly to discuss his experience and built a social media following under the name “Bionic Surgeon.”
But his story would eventually unravel.
The former vascular surgeon was arrested in March 2023 and later faced fraud charges over allegations that he had falsely claimed his amputations were medically necessary.
He was also charged with possessing extreme pornography linked to Marius Gustavson, a man known as the “Eunuch Maker,” who was later jailed for carrying out extreme body mutilation procedures.
Hopper had allegedly sought to have his own legs removed for sexual gratification.
Hopper seemed ‘charming and caring‘
Years before his arrest, Hopper had operated on Faye’s 72-year-old mother, Liz Spooner, at Royal Cornwall Hospital. Liz needed to have one of her legs amputated, and Hopper was involved in her treatment.
Faye remembers meeting the surgeon after her mother’s operation.
“He was smiley. He came across as quite charming and caring,” she told The Guardian.
Then she noticed what appeared to be metal rods extending beneath his trouser legs and she realized that Hopper was also an amputee.
“I thought, blimey, he’s operated on my mum, but he’s also an amputee,” she recalled.
At the time, it reassured her.
She believed Hopper’s own experience would make him more sympathetic to a patient facing the devastating loss of a limb.
“I thought he had amazing empathy,” Faye said.
She even remembers making a joke about his surname after seeing his prosthetic legs.
The operation lasted almost twice as long as expected
The operation itself already started raising questions with the family, however. Faye said she had been told to expect her mother’s surgery to last around five or six hours.
Instead, Liz was in the operating room for roughly 11 hours.
The family said they were never given a clear explanation for why the procedure had taken so much longer than anticipated. After waking up, Liz was confused and delirious, according to her daughter. She refused food and medication while recovering from the effects of anesthesia and morphine.
A few days later, Liz developed pneumonia and died in hospital.
For Faye, the shock of losing her mother was compounded years later when she learned Hopper had been arrested. She was horrified to discover that the surgeon now facing serious allegations had been involved in her mother’s care.
“Oh my God, I felt sick that he was even near my mom,” she said.
Questions over Hopper’s work as a surgeon
Faye says she still struggles with unanswered questions about her mother’s treatment.
She has questioned whether Hopper’s work with patients was properly investigated and whether there could have been other motives behind some of the operations he performed.
“I just refuse to believe that there weren’t ulterior motives behind the operations he carried out,” she said.
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