If television shows like Bridalplasty are what inspired you to start researching plastic surgery, our Tuscaloosa liposuction staff seriously cautions you against letting your research stop there. Did you know that these shows (in which participants are striving to win a series of competitions for which cosmetic procedures are the prizes) are a transgression of the code of ethics laid out by the American Society of Plastic Surgery (ASPS)? The organization states that a violation includes any event in which “The member participates in a charity raffle, fund raising event, contest or other promotion in which the prize is any procedure” (ASPS Code of Ethics, §2.I.K).

However, television isn’t the only detractor from ethical plastic surgery practices. Sometimes, the pursuit of a dollar is powerful enough for physicians who are not board certified plastic surgeons to market cosmetic surgery to naive prospects in search of a good bargain on a procedure. Often, that procedure is liposuction. This happened recently in Arizona, where three patients died during surgery at the clinic of Dr. Peter Normann. He was pronounced guilty of second-degree murder in the deaths of Ralph Gonzalez, 33, Leslie Ann Ray, 53, and of manslaughter for the death of Alicia Santizo Blanco, 41.

How can a doctor fail at performing liposuction? In Normann’s case, he had been an emergency room physician, and was only certified as an internist. He had never done a residency in plastic surgery, nor was he trained in anesthesiology. Instead, he had undergone six days of training in liposuction. Residencies for plastic surgery are generally two years long, after the candidate has undergone five years of general surgery training.

Investigators also found that his operating room lacked proper oxygen and monitoring equipment. Normann worked without anesthesiologists or nurses, relying on a massage therapist and a former restaurant worker with little or no training as medical technicians. When one of the now-deceased patients stopped breathing during liposuction, a paramedic that arrived on the scene claims to have seen the doctor inserting a breathing tube into the wrong part of the body – the esophagus, rather than the trachea. This is what deprived him of oxygen and ultimately killed him.

Our established Tuscaloosa liposuction surgeons, Dr. Oliver and Dr. Jack, are great examples of the kind of quality experienced, board certified plastic surgeons can offer. Each of them underwent a plastic surgery residency, which included in extensive training in liposuction. In fact, Dr. Jack scored in the top one percent of all plastic surgical residents in the nation on his in-service training examination during his chief-resident year, and Dr. Oliver is double board certified by both the American Board of Surgery and the American Board of Plastic Surgery. These are the kinds of qualifications you should be looking for when selecting a plastic surgeon.

For information on becoming a Tuscaloosa liposuction patient, please contact Plastic Surgery Specialists today. Either of our surgeons will be glad to answer your questions during an initial consultation.

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