Cosmetic surgery lawsuits are on the rise

The Medical Insurance Group of Australia reports that there are 150 claims worth $4 million against cosmetic and plastic surgeons, and cosmetic medical practitioners. This is indicative of the staggering 70 percent rise in claims in five years in South Australia, which happened in the wake of an explosion of nips and tucks.

MIGA says the claims against botched cosmetic surgery are steadily rising each year, exposing several glitches in the cosmetic surgery industry despite the efforts and promises to clean up the mess and implement reforms.

This is the reason why the Australian government has been up and about giving warnings to consumers to make sure that they only go to board-certified plastic surgeons for their cosmetic surgery makeovers. Consumers should beware of cowboy operators, “fly-in” doctors, misleading advertisement, and poor information.

MIGA lists top five procedures where the most number of complaints come from. These are liposuction, breast augmentation, eyelid surgery or blepharoplasty, non-surgical facelifts using threads, and laser facial treatment including chemical peels.

Mandy Anderson, MIGA’s managing director said that the number of claims under cosmetic surgery was about seven times higher than the other areas. He added that there has been a very significant increase of complaints in the past five years. It seems that the dissatisfaction of outcomes has gone berserk. People have been unhappy with the outcome of their cosmetic surgeries because they either look worse than before or they are not getting the improvement that they were planning to achieve.

The Medical Indemnity Insurance Association of Australia also reported a 72 percent increase in cosmetic claims between 1995/96 to 2003/04.

The current dissatisfaction might have been caused by the changes that transpired in the cosmetic surgery industry. For instance, the types of procedures have changed dramatically. People are looking for fast results and less downtime. Also, physicians are seen doing things they were not doing three to five years ago.

All these contributed to the way people expect their cosmetic surgery outcomes to be. With a more modernized treatment methods and facilities, their expectation have elevated to a point where they just can’t settle for anything less.