Surgeon amputates own legs in $680,000 insurance scam

A vascular surgeon has been jailed for insurance fraud after amputating his own legs and claiming it was caused by sepsis.

Andrew Neil Hopper, 49, a vascular surgeon at the Royal Cornwall Hospital, was sentenced to 32 months in prison on 4/9 after pleading guilty to fraud and possessing extreme pornographic images, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said. A proceeds of crime investigation will now take place to recover the money.

Prosecutors said Hopper "defrauded insurers of more than GBP 466,000 (USD 680,000)" by claiming his leg injuries resulted from sepsis. In reality, Hopper had self-inflicted the injuries using ice and dry ice. Officials said he was a paying customer of a now-defunct website that "sold videos of amputation and body modification, including the removal of genitalia."

"Hopper had a sexual fetish relating to amputation and paid to access this material for his own gratification," senior crown prosecutor Richard Parkhouse said.

Neil Hopper. Photo: The Telegraph

Neil Hopper. Photo: The Telegraph

The doctor's deception unraveled after police investigated Marius Gustavson, who ran the website. Gustavson was jailed for life last year for leading a group that carried out extreme body modifications.

"In exchanges with the website owner, the truth about Hopper’s injuries was revealed: the injuries that led to both his legs being amputated were self-inflicted. Hopper failed to declare this when seeking insurance payouts and fraudulently pocketed almost half a million pounds," the prosecutor added.

Officials said Hopper used PayPal to buy around 20 kg of dry ice pellets on 14/4/2019, just three days before paramedics found him at home with severe injuries to his feet and lower legs. Following the amputations, Hopper received two insurance payments of more than GBP 235,000 and GBP 231,000 without disclosing that the "injuries were self-inflicted."

Hopper later appeared on ITV's "This Morning" and BBC's "Inside Out West," recounting his "brave battle" to return to work after enduring sepsis-induced amputations. He even applied to be a disabled astronaut for the European Space Agency.

Hopper, who worked at Royal Cornwall Hospital since 2013, was struck off the medical register in December 2023. A Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust spokesperson said the criminal charges were not related to his clinical work and "there is no evidence of any risk to patients."