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Surgeon charged with fraud after amputation of his legs
The Independent
|July 24, 2025
A “brave” vascular surgeon who told insurers he had his legs amputated due to sepsis has been charged with fraud.
Neil Hopper, 49, who carried out hundreds of amputations before having his own legs removed below the knees, is accused of telling insurers that the leg injuries were the “result of sepsis and were not self-inflicted”, intending to make a gain.
He has also been charged with encouraging someone else to remove the body parts of others.
Mr Hopper, of Truro in Cornwall, appeared before Cornwall Magistrates' Court in Bodmin yesterday, charged with two counts of fraud by false representation, and a charge of encouraging or assisting in the commission of grievous bodily harm.
It is alleged that between 3 June and 26 June 2019, Mr Hopper dishonestly made a false representation to insurers.
This story is from the July 24, 2025 edition of The Independent.
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