Page 6 - ARUBA TODAY

A6 U.S. NEWS
Monday 25 March 2019

Florida may boost regulation

of cosmetic surgery clinics

By ELLIS RUA especially perilous. A task weight loss surgeries, breast
Associated Press force led by the American augmentations, and Brazil-
MIAMI (AP) — Choeun Society of Plastic Surgeons ian butt lifts. The doctors
Nuon traveled from her found they have a mortal- often are not certified by a
home in California to a Mi- ity rate of 1 in 3,000, com- plastic surgery board and
ami-area cosmetic surgery pared with a rate of about provide such procedures
clinic to have a so-called 50,000 for office-based cos- at a fraction of the cost
Brazilian butt lift in February metic procedures in gen- when compared with es-
2017. Instead of recovering eral. tablished, board-certified
after the procedure, the The bill, which was ap- clinics.
In this Friday, March 22, 2019 photo, a window display advertises 32-year-old mother of two proved by a House com- Florida law permits any li-
low-cost cosmetic procedures outside a surgery clinic in Miami. began slipping in and out mittee earlier this month censed medical doctor to
Associated Press of consciousness. and has support in both perform cosmetic surgery
She eventually passed out chambers, would require without being a board-cer-
because of a severe drop facilities and doctors to tified plastic surgeon. The
in blood pressure. demonstrate financial bill would, however, require
When Nuon awoke and responsibility to pay out the state Board of Medicine
slowly found her bearings, claims when deemed at to adopt new rules govern-
she was in an emergency fault for serious injury. Cur- ing the standard of care
operating room at a near- rent Florida law does not for physicians practicing
by hospital, surrounded require cosmetic surgery within the clinics, though it
by medical staff. Medics clinics to have medical li- remains unclear how the
learned that her surgeon ability insurance. board would enhance the
had punctured her lumbar The legislation, proposed protections.
artery, causing her profuse by Miami-area Republicans Nuon had other cosmetic
internal bleeding. Sen. Anitere Flores and work done in the past and
“I was fighting for my life,” Rep. Anthony Rodriguez, was aware of the risks. But
Nuon said. “They told me also would give the state she said she chose a doc-
that I was lucky to be alive.” Health Department autho- tor who claimed to be a
South Florida has become rization to suspend or place board-certified plastic sur-
a hub for the freewheel- five-year bans on facility geon online, according to
ing industry in trendy cos- owners and physicians who court documents. The sur-
metic surgeries, drawing a fail to comply with the rule geon, Dr. Anthony Hasan
boom in medical tourism. changes, preventing new at Palmetto Lakes Surgical
Costs for such procedures clinics from being opened Center, it turned out, was
have come down — even under another name. not certified by the Ameri-
as more routine surgeries “That’s particularly impor- can Board of Plastic Sur-
covered by insurance and tant,” Flores said. “What we gery, nor did he have med-
Medicaid have skyrock- found is that many of these ical liability insurance.
eted — in what observ- clinics, someone will die at Ryan M. Sanders, Hasan’s
ers such as Florida House one of their clinics, and the attorney, declined com-
Speaker Jose Oliva call a next day they’ll open back ment on behalf of his client.
success of the free market. up and take new patients Still, Nuon has filed a lawsuit
However, complications as if nothing happened.” seeking damages for the
and even deaths of sev- The law change would also punctured artery, as well as
eral out-of-state women in require surgery centers to for emotional distress and
recent years have spiked be at least partly owned a loss of earnings.
concerns over safety of medical doctor. “I feel violated, manipu-
the cosmetic procedures, “We can give the Depart- lated and betrayed,” Nuon
prompting a bill before the ment of Health the tools said.
Florida Legislature this year to shut down the butcher Nuon’s attorney, Andres
to impose stricter regula- shops,” she said. Beregovich, who repre-
tions. Often found in Miami-area sents several clients across
Brazilian butt lifts, a fat shopping plazas, these the U.S. who are suing Flori-
transfer procedure in which businesses market their ser- da doctors and clinics, said
doctors perform liposuction vices via social media to Florida so far has been lax
of the torso and then inject women across the coun- in policing plastic surgeons
that fat into the buttocks, try with limited financial and the clinics they oper-
have been singled out as means who are seeking ate out of.q