Chelsea Lee
Medical Research Editor
WhereismyDoctor.com

Deadly Cosmetic Surgery

May 25th, 2012

Valentine’s Day 2010 was anything but roses and kisses for one man named James Howard.

Howard’s wife, Kellee, was found dead by her husband that morning just a day after her elective liposuction procedure at Alyne Medical Rejuvenation Institute in Miami.

Kellee had discovered Dr. Alberto Sant Antonio, who performed her liposuction, on the internet and felt it was a safe way for her to lose weight.

Autopsy reports showed the true cause of Kellee’s death was lidocaine overdose.

Lidocaine is a painkiller typically prescribed following plastic surgery, but board-certified plastic surgeon Alberto Gallerani says that the amount of lidocaine found in Kellee’s body displayed "a basic misunderstanding of the principles of pharmacology and patient safety," and called it “just outrageous.”

Sant Antonio is just one of a large number of doctors across the country that have begun offering plastic surgery procedures despite the fact that they are neither trained nor board certified to do so.

Plastic surgery has become one of the more profitable fields in medicine, and there seems to be no shortage of patients seeking a wide variety of surgical procedures.

Of course visiting a non-board-certified doctor for plastic surgery proves risky, and in many recent cases even deadly. But the question at hand is whether or not traveling abroad for plastic surgery presences any dangers.

But some want to crack down hard on those doctors luring in such trusting patients.

Eleanor Sobel, Florida state senator, says of the plastic surgery craze “It’s out of control; It's all about people doing a job they're not qualified to do."

Sobel hopes to get a bill passed that will require stricter regulations on clinics and spas offering plastic surgery procedures that they may not be trained for.

Likewise Illinois state senator Jacqueline Collins says "We should be looking at how we regulate the industry and get a handle on this before it gets out there too far. There should be a happy medium to protect the integrity of the medical profession and the certification process for those providing the service and protection for the safety and well-being of patients."

Carey Nease, a board-certified facial plastic surgeon, falls on the other side of the fence however saying that "It's not a big stretch for OB/GYNs to go from delivering babies to giving patients tummy tucks.” "It's up to them to make the right ethical decision to what they feel they're qualified to do."

The most important safety factor for anyone considering plastic surgery is to do their own extensive research. Research the desired procedure, read reviews, and always look for board-certified doctors working at accredited hospitals or clinics.

To find qualified plastic surgeons near you.