Beauty Treatments at Florida Spas Should be Subject to Existing Plastic Surgery Regulations
Across the US, fewer than half of states require doctors who perform cosmetic surgery in their offices to have their office licensed or accredited. According to USA Today this means in an emergency these offices may not have the necessary equipment or medication to save lives. Furthermore, these locations are not required to adhere to standards in anesthesia, cleanliness, or record keeping and are not inspected.
Florida is one of the few states that does require plastic surgery doctors to follow safety regulations when performing surgery in-office. Yet patients are still dying because some clinics have found ways around the regulations. For example, some spas performing “non-invasive procedures” and other beauty treatments claim they are not subject to the cosmetic surgery malpractice laws and safety regulations. According to state senator Eleanor Sobel, these “facilities avoid safety protections and inspections by declining to offer anesthesia and instead using pills or injections.”
The Florida Senate’s health regulation committee recently approved a bill that would change that. If made into law, beauty spas providing liposuction and other treatments would be required to follow the same safety standards as all other surgery locations. These regulations are designed to protect patients from cosmetic surgery malpractice and hopefully would reduce emergencies and patient death.
As an ethical and trusted personal injury lawyer, Scott Distasio founded Distasio Law Firm in February of 2006, which focuses on all types of personal injury cases. He wanted to open a law firm that represented his belief that all firms should provide ethical and outstanding service to their clients.
