Former NHS consultant vascular surgeon Neil Hopper has been struck off the General Medical Council (GMC) register after using dry ice to amputate his own legs to fulfill a sexual fantasy, then fraudulently claiming £466,653 in insurance payouts by falsely blaming sepsis, according to a GMC tribunal. Hopper, who was a vascular surgeon at the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro, pleaded guilty last year to two counts of fraud by false representation and three counts of possession of extreme pornographic images linked to the illegal 'Eunuch Maker' website.

The £466,653 Insurance Fraud: A Surgeon's Elaborate Lie

According to the source, Hopper defrauded two insurance companies of £466,653 by claiming his legs were amputated due to sepsis after a family camping trip. In reality, as reported during Truro Crown Court proceedings, he had used dry ice purchased online to freeze his legs to the point where amputation was necessary. The fraud was uncovered during an investigation into the Eunuch Maker website, which sold videos of extreme body modifications, including amputations. Hopper even appeared on national television to lie about the cause of his amputation, the source reported.

From Consultant Surgeon to Eunuch Maker Customer

Hopper was a consultant vascular surgeon specialising in amputations. The source reveals that he had bought and viewed amputation pornography from the illegal website known as 'The Eunuch Maker', operated by Marius Gustavson.. Gustavson, who was jailed for life in May 2024, led a network that carried out castrations, penis removal, and other 'grisly' procedures on males as young as 16, and even cooked human testicles to eat, according to the Old Bailey. Hopper's possession of such extreme pornographic images formed part of his guilty plea. This case echoes a disturbing trend of dark-web-facilitated extreme body modification fetishism, which has ensnared even a trained medical professional.

What the GMC Panel Found: 'Poses a Risk to Patient Safety'

The General Medical Council tribunal struck Hopper off the register with immediate effect. as the source reports, the panel found that Hopper 'poses a risk to patient safety' and that the ban would 'maintain public confidence in the medical profession'. Hopper, who is still in prison , made no substantive objections to the immediate order... The panel also noted that the substantive direction takes effect 28 days from notification unless an appeal is made. The decision permanently bars him from practising medicine in the UK.

The Unanswered Question: How Did a Surgeon Conceal This from Colleagues?

The source does not indicate whether any colleagues at the Royal Cornwall Hospital suspected the truth about Hopper's self-inflicted injuries,or whether hospital protocols allowed a surgeon to cause such damage without detection. It is also unclear if the insurance companies have recovered any of the £466,653. furthermore, while Hopper appeared on national television to lie about his amputation, the report does not detail which shows or whether the deceit was ever challenged by medical peers.. These gaps leave important oversight questions unanswered.