The Health Care Complaints Commission ( HCCC ) will be taking a look at the Cosmetic Surgery industry after two young women were rushed to hospital when their hearts stopped beating while undergoing what are known as " Boob jobs " under a light anaesthetic. Fortunately, they both made a full recovery, but many entrepreneurs have discovered new fields of medical services that do not require any form of medical license but subject the patient to a partial anaesthetic, bordering on the inner edge of deep sedation.
This form of " light anaesthetic " is widely used in the field of traditional medicine to avoid the discomfort of colonoscopic bowel examinations, cataract removal and many others similar procedures and is administered by a doctor trained and licensed in that discipline. It seems that this is so loosely categorised that a light anaesthetic may be administered by a person with limited medical qualifications, and that now worries the HCCC.
Cosmetic surgery is a relatively new branch of medicine and is subject to both rapid expansion and entrepreneurial development of procedures offered. It seems to fall into the licensing " twilight zone " and consequently the standards that apply to traditional medicine do not apply. The HCCC is aware of customer complaints mounting and there is growing concern that this new industry needs to be brought under stricter licensing control.
The danger is that tightening the Cosmetic industry in Australia will probably send Australian customers offshore to where " Cosmetic tourism " is a growing segment of the holiday trade. It can be very appealing when offers include air fares, accommodation in luxury hotels and the attention of a cosmetic surgeon to deliver that desired look - all included in a very attractively priced package that also comes with a credit offer.
One of the advantages of globalization is that the world banking system is quite happy to finance an event that happens in another country with finance that can be repaid in the traveller's home country over an extended period of time. Cosmetic surgery is now available to very ordinary people and has long become removed as purely a service available to the rich and famous. The only missing link seems to be the qualifications of those providing this service.
If qualifications for cosmetic surgery are deficient in Australia, you can be sure that a very similar situation exists in Asia and this seems to be reflected in the number of people returning with unexpected - and unwanted - side affects from their experience. This can range from ugly scar tissue to infections that are life threatening. In many cases, it takes expensive remedial surgery here in Australia to repair the damage.
As the events that happened to two young women who experienced heart failure shows, the use of twilight suppression of pain is not without risk. A trained anaesthetist takes careful note of the patients medical history, drug regimen and general health in selecting the strength and type of anesthetic to be used, and carefully observes their condition while the procedure is carried out.
Unfortunately, the powers of the HCCC relate only to procedures within Australia. Those who willingly undergo medical procedures overseas do so with the risk factor entirely on their own shoulders !
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