Cosmetic surgery channels are increasing. The same goes for allegations of injury and death.
A new breed of cosmetic surgery channels, some supported by investors in investment, contributes for a group of the growing market in the country.
The channels sell a range of bodily subscription operations, such as “Mommy Makeovers” and liposuction, targeting customers willing to pay up to $ 20,000 for a new figure.
A joint investigation by KFF Health News and NBC News revealed that cosmetic surgery channels have been the target of dozens of proceedings for medical care and proceedings alleging disfiguring injuries – including 12 cases of unjustified deaths filed in the past seven years.
The injured patients have accused the hiring chains of doctors with minimum cosmetic surgery training, not to recognize and treat potentially fatal infections and other dangerous surgical complications, and to use high pressure sales tactics that have minimized safety risks, according to judicial archives. Companies have denied allegations before the court.
“These people promise to transform you into the most beautiful person in the country, and the risks are not often worth reality,” said Sean Domnick, a Florida lawyer who directs the American Association for Justice, a group of first instance lawyers.
Robert Centeno, medical director of Sono Bello, the largest of the channels, does not agree. He said that the company’s mission was “to help each of our patients live their best life now”. Sono Bello offers “transformations that change life” which improve “the appearance of a person as well as his quality of life,” said Centeno, surgeon of Troy’s Society, Michigan. Sono Bello boasts that he is “the best specialist in American cosmetic surgery”.
But many established plastic surgeons fear that chain surgery groups will be inclined to spend more efforts in marketing and sales than to ensure that their doctors are correctly accredited and capable of managing the complications that arise.
Medical practices belonging to investment capital or investment companies have more money to spend in patients and “the ability to operate and provide quality care to patients is now less important,” said Mark Domanski, plastic surgeon in northern Virginia.
Erin Schaeffer, 37, spent a week in a Florida hospital fighting a serious infection after having a type of kid and liposuction at the Jacksonville branch of Sono Bello.
More than a year later, the scars remain in its lower body. And in a trial, she accuses Sono Bello of having used an obstetrician gynecologist who was insufficiently trained to eliminate her excess skin and fat, a procedure which, she said, caused excruciating pain. Sono Bello and the doctor rejected the allegations in a joint judicial file.
“I literally felt like I was in living skin,” said Schaeffer.
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