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With respect to the article it would be interesting to see the breakdown of the claims by the MDU, by this i am referring to the specialty of the surgeon performing a 'plastic surgery' procedure and also whether they are a member of BAAPS (British Association of Aesthetic Plastic surgeons) or BAPRAS (British Association of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons).
Defence unions such as MDU and MPS tend to lump cosmetic or aesthetic procedures into one bracket and therefore one indemnity bracket independent of specialty trained in. For example a general/breast surgeon may privately be marketed as a reconstructive breast plastic surgeon, however not all would have received as much reconstructive or aesthetic training by virtue of their training programme. In addition they are able to branch into abdominoplasties without training in their specialty programme.
The boundaries of facial plastic surgery are being blurred with Opthlamologists, Ear Nose and Throat and also Maxillo-Facial surgeons becoming 'facial plastic surgeons'. Technically this is untrue unless they are trained as plastic surgeons.
Surgical dermatologists may also provide a 'plastic surgery' service.
This is not a smear on other specialties, however different specialties do have a bias towards different aspects of surgery and surgery parallel to aesthetic procedures, in not just techniques but also numbers.
They key point here however is regulation of private cosmetic work and membership to BAPRAS and BAAPS. The figures need to be more detailed before labelling a rise in negligence en masse, and simply calling a rise 'significant' is not good enough.
I feel that a follow up piece showing a breakdown of complaints against those on the specialist register as opposed to those who are not will provide vital information. This would save money on payouts and premiums and most of all highlight to patients where their money is best spent to receive the best outcome possible.
Re: Clinical negligence claims against plastic surgeons rise “significantly”
With respect to the article it would be interesting to see the breakdown of the claims by the MDU, by this i am referring to the specialty of the surgeon performing a 'plastic surgery' procedure and also whether they are a member of BAAPS (British Association of Aesthetic Plastic surgeons) or BAPRAS (British Association of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons).
Defence unions such as MDU and MPS tend to lump cosmetic or aesthetic procedures into one bracket and therefore one indemnity bracket independent of specialty trained in. For example a general/breast surgeon may privately be marketed as a reconstructive breast plastic surgeon, however not all would have received as much reconstructive or aesthetic training by virtue of their training programme. In addition they are able to branch into abdominoplasties without training in their specialty programme.
The boundaries of facial plastic surgery are being blurred with Opthlamologists, Ear Nose and Throat and also Maxillo-Facial surgeons becoming 'facial plastic surgeons'. Technically this is untrue unless they are trained as plastic surgeons.
Surgical dermatologists may also provide a 'plastic surgery' service.
This is not a smear on other specialties, however different specialties do have a bias towards different aspects of surgery and surgery parallel to aesthetic procedures, in not just techniques but also numbers.
They key point here however is regulation of private cosmetic work and membership to BAPRAS and BAAPS. The figures need to be more detailed before labelling a rise in negligence en masse, and simply calling a rise 'significant' is not good enough.
I feel that a follow up piece showing a breakdown of complaints against those on the specialist register as opposed to those who are not will provide vital information. This would save money on payouts and premiums and most of all highlight to patients where their money is best spent to receive the best outcome possible.
Competing interests: No competing interests