Convicted amputee surgeon faces medical tribunal

A convicted NHS vascular surgeon who froze his own legs so they had to be removed has told a medical tribunal he had always put his patients first.

In September 2025 Neil Hopper, 50, of Truro, Cornwall, was sentenced to 32 months in prison and give an 10-year sexual harm prevention order for insurance fraud and possessing extreme pornography.

The General Medical Council brought the matter to the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service to decide whether Hopper's fitness to practise had been impaired in relation to his convictions.

Hopper told the virtual hearing he had never harmed any patients and they "always came first". The panel adjourned until 12:00 BST on Thursday to consider its decision.

Warning: Contains graphic descriptions

Robert Dudley, representing the General Medical Council, outlined Hopper's five convictions.

He said Hopper had bought three videos featuring the clamping and removal of male genitalia from Marius Gustavson, who was jailed for 22 years in 2024 for offences related to mutilating paying customers and streaming it online.

Hopper had messaged Gustavson: "I loved them [the videos], I've watched them thousands of times."

Dudley told the tribunal panel Hopper had asked Gustavson how much dry ice was used to freeze a person's leg to which Gustavson had given directions and recommended pain relief medication.

On 15 April 2019 Hopper started freezing his own legs and that afternoon was admitted to hospital, where he did not tell medics the pain and damage was self inflicted.

While being treated in hospital for sepsis, Dudley said Hopper had thanked Gustavson for making it possible and after the legs had been amputated, he had sent him a photograph showing the results of the surgery.

Dudley said Hopper had secured a claim from two insurance companies for critical illness and he had not told the firms he had been responsible for the amputation of his legs.

He quoted Judge Adkin's sentencing remarks about the men's association and their shared sexual interests in amputation and extreme body modification and said they showed Hopper could put the public at risk.

Dudley said the violence and dishonesty involved in Hopper's convictions put the bar for impairment "at the higher end of the higher end" of the spectrum.

He said Hopper's ability to practise medicine was "seriously impaired" by his use of extreme pornography and apparent sexual interest.

Hopper attended the tribunal via a mobile phone and spoke from prison.

He told the hearing: "I really want to say, whatever my perceived shortcomings are, no concerns have ever been raised about my medical ability.

"The patients always came first, no matter what my shortcomings outside of work were."

Hopper, who is originally from Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, Wales, had been employed by the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust from 2013 until he was arrested in March 2023.

He has been suspended from the medical register since December 2023.

He told the panel he wanted to reassure his patients that he had been the subject of oversight, had been part of a large team and had taken part in surgical audits and governance.

"Surgery was incredibly important to me, it was one of the pillars of my life."

"I'm actually quite proud of my surgical results," he added.

"I just wanted to reassure everyone, no matter what has gone on, I'd never allow anything from my personal life to affect them [his patients]."

"I have deep regret over my current situation, it is more nuanced than reported in the press but at the end of the day, I am responsible for this."

Hopper said the motivations for his actions had been "complicated".

He apologised to his friends, family and former colleagues and said: "I had no intention of causing harm to anyone but myself."

Follow BBC Cornwall on X, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to spotlight@bbc.co.uk.