For reasons that are not clear to me, the gynecologist was allowed to continue to practice, and within the past few weeks, another woman has died in his office as a result of a liposuction procedure.
A Seattle area clinic that employs doctors from several specialties is now being sued for the liposuction related death of a 28 year old woman- the surgery was done by a Dr. Sobrino, who went to medical school in Mexico and was trained in general surgery. To my knowledge, he did not receive ACGME (American Council for Graduate Medical Education) accredited training in Plastic Surgery- meaning he did not have the benefit of the years of supervised training in liposuction that Plastic Surgeons do.
The poor safety precautions and low level of care this woman received are astounding. You can read more details here:
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/432490_liposuction.html?source=mypi
Please don't think that this could not happen here in Florida... Last week in Broward County, a previously healthy woman died shortly after having a liposuction procedure with fat grafting (a Brazilian Butt Lift) in a "rejuvenation center" staffed by physicians from multiple specialties.
Bottom Line: unless you can be guaranteed that the plastic surgeon on the staff is actually doing your surgery, you should be concerned for your safety. Many unscrupulous doctors are hiring (or attempting to hire) plastic surgeons to lend legitimacy to their endeavors- effectively pulling a "bait and switch" on unsuspecting patients. The fact that there is a plastic surgeon's name on the sign in front of the office won't save you when you are having surgery by someone else- who doesn't know what they are doing.
The examples above all share one characteristic- the patients who gave their lives were being operated on by doctors who did not complete residency training in Plastic Surgery.
It cannot be over-stated-
- Be sure the person who will be performing your surgery (and yes, liposuction IS surgery- no matter what machine is used) completed residency training in Plastic Surgery.
- Be sure the person doing your surgery is certified by The American Board of Plastic Surgery.
- Be sure the surgery will occur in an accredited facility and NOT the doctor's office. Acceptable accreditations would include JCAHO or AAAASF.
- Be sure there will be a certified anesthesia provider taking care of you during surgery. In my Orlando Plastic Surgery, skin care and hair restoration center, we always use only Board Certified Anesthesiologists.
We need the State Medical Boards and Legislatures to get involved and limit doctors to practicing within the areas for which they actually have ACGME accredited training. Please join me in this effort- call my office for information on how.
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