Neil Hopper – Cornwall

An NHS vascular surgeon from Cornwall who had his own legs removed for insurance fraud has been struck off the medical register.

Neil Hopper, a former NHS vascular surgeon who worked at the the Royal Cornwall Hospital, Treliske, Truro inflicted injuries on himself that led to a double leg amputation.

He had previously carried out hundreds of amputation operations before having his own legs removed in 2019.

He then lied to insurers by claiming that injuries to his legs were the result of sepsis and not self-inflicted.

In May 2019, Hopper had below knee amputations after a “mysterious illness”.

In fact he had used ice and dry ice to freeze his own legs so they had to be removed

He then fraudulently claimed more than £460,000 in insurance payouts by lying about the cause of his injuries.

He was also convicted of possessing extreme pornography including having a “sexual interest in amputation”.

After the amputations, he was back at work in just under six months with prosthetic legs.

In September 2025, Hopper, aged 50, of Truro, was sentenced to 32 months in prison and given a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

At a three-day hearing held by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) this week, which concluded on Friday, the panel found Hopper’s fitness to practise was impaired and ordered his removal from the medical register.

Samantha Gray, chair of the tribunal, said: “In all the circumstances, the tribunal found that Dr Hopper’s convictions and the context surrounding them are incompatible with continued registration.

“It was satisfied that no other sanction aside from erasure would adequately uphold public confidence in the profession or the regulator, and that erasure is therefore the proportionate sanction.”

The panel described his behaviour as falling “at the extreme high end of the spectrum of seriousness”.

As such it found there was “an extremely high risk to public protection in this case.”

The tribunal heard how Hopper’s convictions followed a Metropolitan Police investigation into a website offering “extreme body modifications,” including castration and penile removal.

Hopper registered on the site in August 2018 and purchased three videos showing such procedures.

Hopper underwent bilateral below-knee amputations on May 17, 2019.

He later claimed insurance payouts under critical illness cover from Aviva and Old Mutual Wealth, falsely stating the amputations were due to septicaemia and not disclosing it was a self-inflicted injury.

He received £235,622.14 from Aviva and £231,031.67 from Old Mutual Wealth.

The tribunal found this to be deliberate, sustained dishonesty.

The panel also noted Hopper’s communications with the website operator showed sexual arousal related to the amputation outcome.

Robert Dudley, counsel for the General Medical Council (GMC), told the panel: “The nature and circumstances of Dr Hopper’s criminality would definitively damage the public confidence in the profession and professional standards, given where the concerns regarding dishonesty and possession of extreme pornography fall on the spectrum of seriousness.”

He also told the tribunal that Hopper’s actions were premeditated.

Mr Dudley said Hopper discussed his plans to freeze his legs with the website operator, sourcing dry ice and pain medication from the dark web using Bitcoin.

Amputee surgeon Neil Hopper in his office when he was still practising (Image: Packet archive)

In his own submissions, Hopper said that he had co-operated fully with the police outside of formal interviews.

He said he did not regret the use of dry ice leading to his amputations but regretted contact with the website operator.

Regarding the insurance fraud, Hopper claimed there was no financial motivation and that he was concerned about the impact of his disability on his family.

He argued that his actions were “lying by omission” and that he simply did not disclose the true cause of his injuries.

However, the tribunal found that Hopper lacked insight into the seriousness of his actions, particularly the fraud and the possession of extreme pornography.

It noted that his insurance claims were not made impulsively and that he had multiple chances to reconsider.

Most of the money was spent on luxury goods and debt repayment, with only some used to fund prosthetics and adapt his home.

The panel also noted Hopper’s comment to a family member about wanting to “milk this for as much as possible,” saying it “demonstrated a financial motive, to which Dr Hopper appears to have limited insight.”

The tribunal said: “A surgeon receiving sexual gratification from amputation or mutilation pornography is not compatible with how the public should perceive a competent doctor, and that this behaviour would seriously damage public confidence in the profession.”

It found his limited insight especially concerning given his medical specialty.

On the question of sanction, the panel ruled that nothing short of erasure would be sufficient to protect the public and maintain confidence in the profession.

The panel said: “The tribunal considered that even a long period of suspension would not be adequate in mitigating the serious concerns posed to the protection of the public.

“It was satisfied that suspension would also not adequately uphold public confidence in the profession, and that a reasonable member of the public would not be reassured by a sanction of suspension being imposed in this case given the nature of the crimes for which Dr Hopper has been convicted.”

They concluded his actions were “incompatible with continued registration” and that erasure was the only appropriate and proportionate response.