Liposuction and Plastic Surgery Information - 36 Ontario cosmetic surgeons placed under review

36 Ontario cosmetic surgeons placed under review

Tuesday, 20 November 2007

Following yesterday's meeting of Ontario's medical regulatory agency, 36 "cosmetic surgeons" in Ontario have been put under review.

The meeting followed growing concern at the lack of regulations in Ontario to prevent non-specialist physicians from calling themselves "cosmetic surgeons" and performing invasive surgical procedures, including liposuction and breast augmentation. There were concerns that patients would face confusion between plastic surgeons and cosmetic surgeons. The recent high profile death of a 32 year old woman undergoing liposuction by a family physician who called herself a cosmetic surgeon added to the pressure for clarification.

The meeting of the Council of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario reviewed a mandatory-response survey of 539 doctors who were identified as performing cosmetic surgery. Of the 539 doctors, 36 have now been put on review, with 20 of them warned that their medical licence could be revoked if they do not answer questions about their qualifications, practices, procedures and patient care facilities. The other 16 doctors under review are to be checked for possibly operating without qualifications while performing high risk procedures.

The regulator will now consider further regulations in February of next year, including the possibility that doctors do not use titles that would imply that they have a medical specialisation that they lack, such as "cosmetic surgeon".

However, the president of the regulator, Dr. Jeffrey Turnbull has said that the names of those doctors under review will not be made public, since none of them have been proven to have broken any rules.

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