Melbourne woman Mary Spanos has shared her experience as part of an ABC Four Corners investigation into endometriosis surgeries with Dr Simon Gordon that were later found, through pathology, to show little or no evidence of the disease.
Mary underwent laparoscopic surgery in 2020 and was billed for a procedure reserved for “severe” endometriosis. She recalls being reassured immediately afterwards that the condition had been confirmed and removed.
“Mum and I are both crying,” she said. “[And] he’s saying, ‘It’s all confirmed. It was all endo. We got rid of it, so, she’s going to be amazing.’”
Her pain, however, intensified rather than improved. After requesting her medical records, Mary said she discovered that none of the tissue samples taken during surgery showed evidence of endometriosis.
“There were five separate pieces of tissue that had been sent off to pathology, and all of them came back saying, ‘No endometriosis present’,” she said.
“And his handwriting was right next to it, saying ‘NIL’.”
Mary said the findings left her in shock. She said she “absolutely” believed she had been misled and described feeling “disgusted.”
Her case is one of several examined by Four Corners, which heard from clinicians who reviewed patient records and concluded some surgeries appeared unnecessary and, in some cases, caused “more harm than good.”
The Four Corners investigation has prompted regulatory scrutiny, with health authorities now examining historical complaints and patient records.
The surgeon involved has denied wrongdoing and said he always acted in patients’ best interests.
Source: Four Corners
