Woman left maimed by tummy-tuck

Monday, 19 Mar 2007
Woman left maimed by tummy-tuck (New Zealand)

A woman left grossly disfigured and without a nipple or belly button as a result of disastrous plastic surgery wants her case to be a warning to others.

In a single operation, the woman had breast reduction and abdominoplasty as well as liposuction that left loose flaps of skin hanging from her upper arms.

At the time of the operation, the woman weighed 108kg and was considered morbidly obese with a body mass index of 37.

"I didn't really know what liposuction was - I just thought that I was going to have a nice flat stomach afterwards as a result of a tummy tuck," she told a Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal last week.

The well-known surgeon who performed the operation faces charges of professional misconduct.

The patient, the doctor and all witnesses have name suppression.

The patient claimed the doctor never told her how major the surgery would be, the risks of tissue dying or that her weight meant there was an increased risk of complications.

"(The doctor) told me that I was the perfect candidate because I had slim legs and no bottom, and I was going to look great when it was over."

A plastic surgeon expert witness told the tribunal the woman was left with a grossly disfigured right breast, unsightly scarring, gross distortion of the pubic area and "unimpressive" results from the liposuction.

"I have seldom seen such an unfortunate outcome from what would be, in properly trained hands... three reasonably simple plastic surgical procedures."

He said the fact the operation took less than four hours suggested "inappropriate haste with scant attention to meticulous detail".

After the surgery the woman went home believing everything had gone according to plan.

But the surgery cut blood flow to her right nipple, causing the tissue to die. Her umbilical stump, which extends inwards behind the belly button, was also dying. Her abdominoplasty also resulted in an infection and the skin on her upper arms hung loose where it was once stretched over the removed fat.

Two weeks after the surgery, she was back under the knife to have her belly button and right nipple removed, losing still more of her breast in the process.

But the abdominoplasty had still not healed properly and two months after the initial surgery the woman woke up to find the infected wound in her side had ruptured and the bed was soaked in a bloody liquid.

The doctor faces charges of professional misconduct for failing to gain informed consent, failing to co-ordinate the surgery adequately, performing the breast reduction without reasonable care and skill, not keeping adequate records and for performing procedures for which he had inadequate expertise and training.

He has yet to give evidence before the tribunal, but his lawyer said he would rigorously deny the charges.

The woman, who broke down in tears twice during her evidence and had to have part of her statement read for her, told the tribunal she was happy to have all the procedures performed in a single operation - something the expert witness suggested was unwise - and admitted she told the doctor she did not want to hear the details of the operation.

"I did not want to know the gory details of what bits he was going to cut and how he was going to perform the operation."

The woman told the tribunal she was left to live with her disfigurements every day.

"One of the things that has been hard for me is that I feel sort of guilty that I wanted cosmetic surgery," she said.

"I feel as though people will judge me for wanting it, and that has made this whole process very challenging for me, but I have pursued this complaint because I don't want to anyone to go through what I went through. I want other women to be aware of the risks."

The hearing continues next week.