14 DAY TRIAL // A former businesswoman, wife and mother saw her life go down the drain when she went to have a facelift and the surgeon decided to “play God” on her body with an experimental procedure. She is now deformed – but, for what it’s worth, also £6 million richer.
At the time Penny Johnson decided to have a facelift because all the long hours at the office were starting to take their toll on her once-youthful face, she was a very happy and accomplished woman.
She was married and had a son with her second husband, and was running a firm with her husband that, if it hadn’t been for the botched surgery, could have probably made them millionaires in a very short time.
All that changed when she emerged from the surgery: it had damaged the nerves on her face, leaving her with a twitch that she can’t control and a “monster eye” that droops and she can’t close not even at night, the Daily Mail informs.
She sued Le Roux Fourie, the surgeon that performed the procedure on her and whom she accused of “playing God” with her body – and she was awarded £6 million in damages.
“The judge estimated that the company’s income would be £20million and awarded Mrs. Johnson £6,190,884.92 damages. Mr. Justice Owen said the psychological impact of the injuries had been devastating, adding ‘the claimant was formerly a confident, happy and outstandingly successful woman with a full and rewarding family and social life’,” the Mail writes.
“Only £80,000 of the award was made for her ‘pain, suffering and loss of amenity’ following the facelift and a botched breast implant, while more than £6million was for her past and future loss of earnings. Her legal team believe the payout is a record for a cosmetic surgery claim,” the publication adds.
However, it’s not the loss of income that Johnson regrets the most: after coming out of severe depression, during which time she even contemplated suicide, she now faces a lifetime of loneliness and social isolation.
“I don’t want to do anything anymore. My husband has a separate life with my son which I am not included in. I can’t be a wife anymore,” she told the court.
Money can’t buy that back for her – but it surely can help her out a bit, especially since she can’t find work anymore.