Several Plastic Surgery Patients Consider Lawsuits Against Surgery Center
An Atlanta plastic surgery center famous for live-streaming their surgeries is now the target of several personal injury lawsuits. According to several former patients, they endured extreme complications related to Brazilian butt lifts and other procedures. One patient reported that half of her side was missing while another said she had burns on the inside of her body that left scars on the outside. She said regardless of what she did, the burning sensation continued.
The situation for the plastic surgery center turned worse when it was revealed that an employee with not medical training was green-lighting prospective patients. Instead of determining whether or not a patient was a good candidate for surgery, she would tell every patient they were a good candidate for surgery, thus helping the plastic surgery center bring in as much money as they could, sometimes with devastating results.
Part of the problem is Georgia’s lax laws regarding medical services. A doctor may set up a practice he pleases in Georgia regardless of what his specialty is in. In this case, the doctor performing surgeries on patients was a pediatrician.
Medical malpractice insurance in Georgia
Doctors are not required to carry medical malpractice insurance. In fact, in a lot of cases where you find an out-of-specialty doctor practicing in a specialty for which they have no training or experience, you’re unlikely to find a medical malpractice policy. The majority of hospitals, however, do require their doctors to carry medical malpractice insurance. Before you allow a doctor to perform surgery on you, you should ensure that they are covered by a malpractice policy. When they aren’t, it can make it very difficult to receive compensation. It’s hard to imagine an insurance company offering a pediatrician a policy to perform plastic surgeries. For this reason, you should always be very skeptical about doctors who perform surgeries out of their own buildings. They may or may not carry medical malpractice insurance. It would be surprising to find out that this particular doctor and clinic were insured.
So, what happens now? Essentially, the litigants can file a lawsuit directly against the doctor and his business. Since there are so many plaintiffs, their lawsuit totals will eclipse the value of the business quickly. The business will declare bankruptcy and all assets related to the business will become part of the bankruptcy estate. In the case where the business chooses to be liquidated rather than repay their debt in Chapter 11, all debts owed to the plaintiffs would be discharged. They would be free to combine with other creditors to pick the bones of the business dry in liquidation, but they would likely only receive a fraction of what they were awarded in a jury trial.
So, when choosing a surgeon, it is always wise to err on the side of extreme caution, because right now there are a lot of women in both physical and emotional pain after forking over their hard-earned money to look the way they want.
Talk to an Atlanta Medical Malpractice Attorney Today
If you’ve been injured due to a surgical error, call the Atlanta medical malpractice attorneys at The Moses Law Firm today to schedule a free consultation and discuss your situation in more detail.
Resource:
wsbtv.com/news/local/atlanta/some-goals-plastic-surgery-patients-considering-legal-action-after-channel-2-investigations/NXCWSOAV2FHSPB4ZSHREL7NZJQ/