Growing numbers of patients are launching compensation claims against plastic surgeons in private practice over operations that have gone wrong or failed to achieve the desired result, says the Medical Defence Union (MDU).

Claims against plastic surgeons are much more likely than other clinical negligence claims to result in a settlement for the patient, notes the MDU, the largest UK doctors’ defence body.

The organisation, which indemnifies doctors against malpractice allegations, refused to specify figures for the growth in plastic surgery claims, citing commercial confidentiality, but a report …