Plastic surgeons to be regulated
Injury lawyers have urged in a new report that plastic surgeons should be more regulated in order for patients to avoid personal injury and professional negligence.
Medical experts have commented in the Royal Society of Medicine's Clinical Risk journal, that a lack of scrutiny on the industry is exposing people to the risk of medical blunders.
Worries have been raised over the commercial focus and heavy use of advertising and marketing in the sector, as well as a lack of testing for experimental and potentially dangerous techniques.
The warning comes after a statement made by the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons last month, which raised concerns about under qualified practitioners being able to market directly to consumers.
As a result, industry experts responsible for the report have called for government action, including the introduction of more regulation on practitioners and media.
Rosamund Rhodes-Kemp, an injury lawyer said that such regulation is needed and would greatly be welcomed within the sector: “[We] would welcome the call for tighter regulation of the cosmetic industry, having seen a rise in the number of cases over the last five years and a wide variation in the standard of treatment.”
Foad Nahai, president of the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, commented: “There is no question that this is a patient safety issue of paramount importance and I take our governments to task for not addressing it.”
Facing the problems with under-regulated plastic surgery
One leading expert within the surgery field has also agreed that surgeons must be regulated more. He has stated how a combination of ‘professional greed’ and an under-regulated market has given birth to patient fear and negligence.
A report ‘Clinical Risk’ published by the Royal Society of Medicine, states that cosmetic surgery patients within the UK are at more risk than ever before.
Dr Harvey Marcovitch, who commissioned the leading experts in the field to write for the document said, “Patient safety is this journal's main aim and there can be no area of medicine where patients in the UK are more in need of protection. We need tight control of advertising of cosmetic surgery - including internet advertising. We need proper regulation of the industry and we need both surgeons and GPs to manage patient expectation.”
He furthered: “We have reached a stage where public expectation, driven by media hype and, dare one say, professional greed, has brought us to a 'perfect storm' in the cosmetic surgical market.”
Clinical Risk in Aesthetic Surgery Nigel Mercer, is also an advocate for stricter rules within the cosmetic industry, comparing surgery to the food market:
“Perhaps, like tobacco, there should be a Europe-wide ban on advertising all cosmetic 'surgical' procedures, including on search engines.
“If we have to sell anything, we should sell our advice, not procedures. If we cannot self-regulate, then, like the financial institutions, regulation will eventually be imposed.”
He concluded: “Perhaps the single most important factor in reducing clinical risk in cosmetic surgery is the motive for performing any procedure must never be financial gain, so I suggest we get our act together as an industry as we are in grave danger of biting the hand that feeds us.”
The only way professional negligence can be reduced within the field is due to the enforcement of responsible discussion and rule setting.
Perhaps the UK should follow France’s lead, where all surgical procedures can only be undertaken by surgeons who are registered specialists and deemed competent.
To increase safety, many have called for a complete ban on public advertising such as online or on bill boards. However, a sure way of reducing negligence is to separate financial greed from patient care.
Updated on 01/12/2009