LEGAL ISSUES IN AESTHETIC AND/OR PLASTIC SURGERY

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Charles Jerome Ware, LLC,  is a premier Maryland-based, nationally-respected medical malpractice law firm. For an initial courtesy consultation, contact the firm at (410) 720-6129  or  (410) 730-5016.

Rapid growth and expansion of aesthetic and/or plastic surgery in general in the United States and throughout the world has brought in its wake much confusion regarding the many choices and ramifications of these choices and decisions made from them.

One of the major mistakes that  patients, surgeons and other healthcare professionals make with aesthetic and/or plastic surgery is that they either forget , do not realize, or even refuse to acknowledge that aesthetic and/or plastic surgery is, in fact, serious surgery.  Aesthetic and/or plastic surgery is immediate gratification plus serious medical treatment.

A few points, in brief, that plastic surgery participants should understand are as follows:
(1) Attorneys and plastic surgeons (and others who claim to do plastic surgery) have serious interaction, both positive and negative, in this field. This cannot be avoided. The field is legally high risk.
(2) "Informed consent" is a serious process between the surgeon and the patient ; not simply a   document with the patient's signature extracted from the patient by a nurse, surgical assistant, or other staffer.
(3) "Express warranties" may and should be established between patients and surgeons by including in the medical records/files before and after photos of the patient.
(4) Generally, fraud and abuse claims have no statute of limitations, and are not covered by liability insurance.
(5) For advertisement and other purposes, HIPAA is created to protect patient privacy at all times, and it covers medical records as well as photographs of patients, et al.
(6) Agency law applies when assessing responsibility for medical employee(nurses, etc.) when performing work-related (pre-,post-, and actual-surgery) duties.
(7) Revealing patient information in a blog, social media website, or other source, is a HIPAA violation.
(8) Healthcare are advised to notify their liability carrier as soon as possible after receiving notice of a lawsuit against them.
(9) Even physicians who only share an office may be exposed to legal liability in caring for patients.
(10) There are other points, as well.