What to do when something goes wrong

Friday October 27, 2006 ins: Cosmetic Surgery News Tag(s):

Tara Reid’s botched breast augmentation and liposuction is all over the news lately. She even appeared on the Today show just to discuss the nightmare that she went through as her operations went terribly wrong. Her experience, scary as it may seem, has paved the way for people to really be concerned and at the same time, be careful with the way the make their choices of what procedures to undertake and of who is going to perform them.

However, accidents happen anytime and cosmetic surgeons are not robots, which are expected to produce precise and accurate results. So what is the patient to do when something really goes wrong?

It’s a good thing that ABC Four Corners provided something to help us out. The article presents an outline of legal options that the concerned patients may consider should cosmetic procedures go wrong. The outline, which serves as an overview and is not intended to address individual cases, has been drawn up by independent lawyers at the request of Four Corners.

Here’s an excerpt of the Four Corners’ article:

Cosmetic surgery practitioners have a duty to take proper care when treating their patients. If a provider does not treat you with reasonable skill and care, and causes you an injury as a result, you may be able to make a ‘medical negligence’ claim against them.

A formal claim in medical negligence is usually a claim under the common law, which is the law made and administered by the courts under the general label of ‘tort law’.

If you have a problem following a cosmetic surgery procedure, your initial options are to approach:

1. the cosmetic surgeon, to negotiate a solution with them or with their insurer. This may work best if the problem is a minor one, requiring additional treatment, medication or a short period off work;

2. your State or Territory complaints body (see below). Sometimes, complaints bodies have mechanisms to assist with negotiations;

3. a lawyer, for advice on a formal claim.

This is a good heads up for people who have no idea what to do and where to go in case of medical negligence and the like happens. This way, malpractice and fake plastic surgeons will be properly dealt with.

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