Dr. Neil Hopper, a 49-year-old British vascular surgeon, has been convicted of insurance fraud and possession of extreme pornography. The court found that Hopper, who had an unusual interest in amputation, deliberately inflicted severe damage to his own legs, necessitating their amputation, in an attempt to defraud his insurance provider.
Hopper had a long history of performing amputations during his tenure with the National Health Service. In 2019, he exposed his own legs to a mixture of ice and dry ice for eight hours, causing such extensive damage that amputation was the only option. He then falsely reported to his insurance company that he had developed sepsis, a severe infection.
The court determined that Hopper’s actions were motivated by a combination of his unusual sexual fascination with amputation and financial greed. He successfully defrauded two insurance companies, obtaining more than £466,000 ($625,000), which he used to buy an RV, renovate his home, purchase a hot tub, and lavish gifts on his wife, among other expenditures.
Hopper’s peculiar behavior was discovered during an investigation into EunuchMaker, a website that specializes in extreme body modification pornography. Hopper had bought videos from the site, which led to his arrest in March 2023. The website’s operator, Marius Gustavson, was sentenced to a minimum of 22 years in prison the previous year for running an extreme body modification ring.
Hopper’s defense attorney, Andrew Langdon, stated that the surgeon had suffered from body dysphoria since childhood, viewing his feet as an “unwanted addition” and a source of “constant, unending discomfort.” Less than six months after his amputation, Hopper returned to work equipped with prosthetic legs.
Although Hopper expressed remorse for his dishonesty about the reason for his amputation, he did not express regret for the operation itself. The revelation of his crimes shocked his loved ones, according to Langdon.
Hopper was struck off the medical register in December 2023. He received a sentence of 22 months for two counts of fraud and 10 months for three counts of accessing extreme pornography, to be served consecutively, totaling 32 months.