Cosmetic Surgery Gone Wrong

A recent case following a young girl whose breast augmentation went horribly wrong, demonstrates the limitations our current health system has in dealing with practitioners who are not operating within what would be considered by most people as 'competent practice'.  The surgeon in question had previously been involved in a number of disputes which had been settled out of court and consequently were not available for review by subsequent patients.  This represents a flaw in our system which leaves patients vulnerable to some unscrupulous practitioners who continue to operate outside their area of expertise or outside their skill set.  Doctors who cause harm to, or produce poor results in their patients can continue to do so by settling claims out of court with provisions that patients  cannot go public. 

Clearly it is necessary that we protect doctors who are not incompetent but who are unfortunate enough to get a patient with a serious complication for which a settlement is made.   These practitioners should be able to return to their competent practice without tarnishing their reputation.  However, where multiple claims are made against a single surgeon, this demonstrates either a lack of insight into the practitioner’s abilities or a flagrant indifference to the pain and suffering inflicted on some of their patients.  

I often see patients who have had surgery performed either overseas or by surgeons in Australia, practicing outside of their area of expertise and training.   These patients have usually suffered adverse events at the hands of their clinician. In some cases they have just been unfortunate or have had issues that could be reasonably predicted due to their constitution or the operation performed.  In other cases there were clearly lapses in judgment by their surgeon or a procedure they received was performed inappropriately or ineffectively.  Unfortunately in many of those cases, the patients are either unaware of their ability to take action or unable to do so due to settlements that had been made with their practitioner or cosmetic tourism agency.  

 With increasing popularity of the lucrative cosmetic surgery industry, a variety of practitioners, both skilled and unskilled will be drawn in to performing these procedures.  In Australia there is no requirement for doctors who perform cosmetic surgery to have any recognised surgical training.  If patients are willing to let a doctor operate on them, there is no restriction in what that doctor is permitted to do, unless their practice is regulated by the facility in which they are working. To mitigate this, some doctors build their own facility in which they may operate completely unfettered. Overseas there is variable accreditation of surgical skills.  The Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons recommends that all patients considering surgery of this nature check the qualifications and credentials of their surgeon on the APRHA website to confirm that they are Specialist Plastic Surgeons. This does not guarantee that complications will not occur, however it ensures that the surgeon performing their procedure has the adequate training, experience and qualifications to do so.  

 New procedures are constantly being introduced in surgery where even the most highly skilled surgeons may have little experience.  In most cases, these new procedures can be learned and practiced through the skill set already obtained by a properly trained surgeon.  

The APHRA website also allows a prospective patient to determine if there are active complaints or a history of complaints against any practitioner.  

For more information see 

• https://www.ahpra.gov.au/
• http://www.plasticsurgery.org.au/