More and more turn to a personal injury solicitor following botched cosmetic surgery
The market for cosmetic surgery in the UK is growing fast and shows no signs of slowing down. In 2005, there were 700,000 cosmetic surgery procedures in performed in the country, costing £360 million. The fact that these numbers were roughly treble their 2002 equivalents shows just how much the market has grown. Although the vast majority of these procedures were non-invasive ones like chemical peels, the number of patients who decided to contact personal injury solicitors in order to make medical negligence claims gives significant cause for concern.
Even in the light of a number of high profile cosmetic surgery medical negligence complaints such as that of the death of international rap star Kanye West's mother, the idea of cosmetic surgery is fast gathering popular social acceptance.
This is backed up by the figures. Consumer group Which? recently carried out a study which revealed that around five million Brits over the age of 18 would consider having some kind of cosmetic surgical procedure. The same survey also revealed that around 4% of us would like our partners to have a bit of nip-tuck.
Psychologists suggest that social ideals of physical perfection as seen in airbrushed and surgically enhanced celebrities do nothing to boost most people's self-esteem. At the same time, they make cosmetic surgery seem ever more normal and ever more desirable.
Popular celebrities such as Simon Cowell, Sharon Osbourne, Anne Robinson and Demi Moore have all helped lend cosmetic procedures a glamorous appeal.
However, there is a far less glamorous side to cosmetic surgery which involves misleading and unfair marketing as well as the kind of botched operations which eventually lead to those affected needing to seek the representation of personal injury solicitors.
Cosmetic surgery clinics and the "hard sell"
Which? recently released details of the unfair and misleading marketing tactics of some clinics in the UK. According to Which? these clinics have routinely been in breach of regulatory rules and guidelines. Most worryingly, they report that the Good Medical Practice in Cosmetic Surgery code of conduct, drawn up by the industry's Independent Healthcare Advisory Services, seems to be treated with flagrant disdain by some of the profession's major players.
Some of the unprofessional practices Which? identified were: hurrying consumers into booking consultations; offering dubious before-and-after promotional material; using misleading terminology; and advertising Botox, even though it is considered to be an illegal toxin in Britain.
Senior health spokesperson with Which?, Jenny Driscoll, commented, "The examples we found at Body Beautiful are clear evidence that the industry isn't following its own guidelines and that self-regulation isn't working. This was stuff that was being handed out to the public. It's not as if we really had to go in and look for this very hard.
"Telling someone that 'if you have this surgery or treatment by the end of the year you will get some money knocked off' is part of classic pressure selling. We found four examples of that at the Body Beautiful show, even though the IHAS's Good Medical Practice guidelines bans such incentives. It's persuading people to have surgery before they have thought it through.
"More needs to be done to protect people and ensure that the industry follows the existing guidelines, especially on marketing, so they aren't pressurising people into having surgery. We have many examples of marketing material that we think is cavalier, given that the end product is often going under a general anaesthetic and having surgery."
The less glamorous side of cosmetic surgery is all too clear to many in the legal profession. Many personal injury solicitors have begun to specialise in cosmetic surgery medical negligence litigation by the sheer volume of these types of claims they have been receiving.
Claiming compensation for clinical negligence
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