But there are occasions when you come across an unexpected finding or incur a complication which compels you to

But there are occasions when you come across an unexpected finding or incur a complication which compels you to do further procedures without consent."In these situations," he adds, "the surgeon has to make a decision. Do I take out the ovaries [for example] without consent because it is highly likely they will cause problems later? Or do I leave the ovaries in until the patient has signed the consent form - thereby increasing the risk of surgical complications next time round, when technically the surgery becomes much more difficult?"Ten years ago, most surgeons would have opted for removal of organs without the patient's consent. The disease kills 5,000 women a year; it moves quickly and is hard to detect, hence its nickname The Silent Killer. "In my private practice I advise women over the age of 45 to have their ovaries removed if they are having a pelvic operation anyway.

But this is clearly done with their consent," says Robert Kingston, consultant gynaecologist at the Liverpool Women's Hospital."Strictly speaking, you can't take a patient's organs out without consent. "Some doctors are scaring women into having their womb and particularly their ovaries removed by telling horror stories about getting cancer." Then there is the issue of consent: "Surgeons are too ready to remove reproductive organs without telling the patient", Ms Gadsby says.Certain surgeons argue that it is best to remove the ovaries during pelvic operations, to help prevent ovarian cancer later in life. The hospital is contesting both cases but has since changed its procedures before gynaecological operations.The number of complaints from women has increased so dramatically that the Law Society is now setting up a specialist panel of medical negligence practitioners to provide the public with access to solicitors who are proven to have a track record and experience in the medical field. "I would say that the number of cases involving unnecessary surgery or removal of organs without consent has doubled in the past year", says Gillian Gadsby, a solicitor from Chelmsford, Essex, who specialises in cases involving gynaecologists and obstetricians.Ms Gadsby is dealing with 80 cases. The company she works for takes on two or three new cases of medical negligence a week - many on a "no win, no fee" basis.

She wins about 80 per cent - but she screens her clients before accepting them. "We reject about 50 per cent of our applicants", she says.Just under half the complaints concern hysterectomy surgery and related problems - damaged bowel, punctured bladder, failure to diagnose pregnancy before hysterectomy, removal of organs without consent. The rest are mainly concerned with pregnancy or childbirth: trauma (often brain damage) to the baby during delivery, damage to the mother during childbirth (to the anus, for example), stillbirths due to negligence during labour, failure to diagnose abnormalities during pregnancy.But Ms Gadsby's biggest concern is with intimidation: "Women are being frightened into having surgery", she says. Last month Rita Walker, 32, from Middlesborough, won pounds 22,500 damages after her healthy ovaries were removed without her consent during a hysterectomy.Then there are the two women who, inspired by Barbara Whiten's tenacity, have decided to take legal action against King's Mill Hospital, Sutton in Ashfield. Both Amanda Flewitt, 30, of Chaddesden, Derbyshire and Jane Henson, from Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, claim to have had unwanted abortions carried out during routine surgery. In September Vanessa King, 42, of Luton, saw her surgeon struck off the medical register for removing her "perfectly normal" ovary despite instructions that it should not be touched. He had no right to do that." She feels as if she was treated as "a piece of meat on a slab".Barbara Whiten and Lorraine Pearce are just two of a growing number of women confronting the gynaecologists they believe have maltreated them.