Press Release:
RICHMOND, Va., /PRNewswire/ -- Today the Virginia
Society of Plastic Surgeons (VASPS) announced its initiative to work
with the Virginia Board of Medicine to protect patients in Virginia
from inadequately trained practitioners performing surgery in
outpatient offices.
In Virginia, a doctor without sufficient training to be allowed to
perform surgery in a hospital can perform surgery in an outpatient
office. "Due to limited regulations, patients in Virginia have
been injured during outpatient surgery offices by inadequately
trained surgeons performing complex surgeries including liposuction,
facelift, and brachioplasty (arm lift)," said Lewis Ladocsi
M.D., F.A.C.S., President of the Virginia Society of Plastic
Surgeons. "Action is required to reduce the risk of avoidable
injury or death."
Ten years ago in Florida a series of deaths in outpatient surgical
clinics resulted in strict regulations covering the facility and the
doctor. Florida now requires doctors performing surgery in outpatient
settings to have hospital privileges and American Board of Medical
Specialties (ABMS) board certification to ensure they have the proper
training necessary to be safe and effective.
Recently in Virginia patients have been seriously injured during
outpatient cosmetic surgery by doctors without board certification or
permission to perform these procedures in hospitals. In response to
concerns raised by the VASPS and other medical societies, as well as
national media coverage of the increased danger, the Virginia Board
of Medicine created an Ad Hoc Committee on Outpatient Surgery to
discuss the issue and make recommendations. This committee has
recommended a guidance document on office-based procedures be created
for use during the development of proposed regulations to protect
patients from the threat of inadequately trained providers who offer
cosmetic and other surgical services in outpatient settings. These
recommendations will be considered by the Board of Medicine on
February 17, 2011.
"Too many of the doctors now performing outpatient surgeries
in their offices in Virginia are not formally trained, and are not
allowed to perform surgery in hospitals. In some cases, serious
injuries have resulted," said Dr. Ladocsi. "We hope the
Board of Medicine will follow the recommendations of the Committee it
created, so patients in Virginia can feel as safe in outpatient
surgery centers as they do in hospital operating rooms. There is no
reason why patients in Virginia deserve lower safety standards than
patients in other states."
SOURCE Virginia Society of Plastic Surgeons