Credential Research is Essential When Choosing a Cosmetic Surgeon
The outcome you have with a plastic surgery procedure is directly related to the medical skill, aesthetic skill, and medical training a physician receives.
There are many more successful cosmetic surgery procedures performed annually than procedures that go awry. Plastic surgery (although cosmetic in nature) is still surgery and does carry some potential risk. In one case that was highlighted recently in the press, a liposuction procedure performed on a Canadian woman turned into a medical disaster.
An investigation of the doctor in the case determined that not only did the doctor remove too much fat and fluid during the woman’s liposuction procedure, but failed to provide adequate after-care and waited too long to call 911 when the woman’s condition became critical. The woman passed away as a consequence of the difficulties. At the doctor’s sentencing hearing before the Canadian College of Physicians and Surgeons this past week, the woman’s husband had hoped that the doctor’s license to practice medicine would be permanently revoked, but that didn’t happen.
In a ruling that is a potential cause for concern for cosmetic surgeons, even board-certified cosmetic surgeons, the Canadian College of Physicians and Surgeons, while severely criticizing the doctor, only revoked her license for 2 years. In a year, the doctor can apply for reinstatement; and even if reinstatement is denied, this doctor will be able to work as a surgical assistant. Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of this case is that if there were laws that required physicians to be board-certified in their field of practice, this terrible situation may have been prevented.
In the U.S., once a doctor obtains his medical license, he is free to practice in any field of medicine he chooses, whether or not he has obtained specific training or long term clinical experience in that field. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons and board-certified Cleveland cosmetic surgeons like the Cleveland Clinic’s Dr. Vicente Poblete support training and the education of protocols that could help to prevent such medical calamities as highlighted in this specific case.