Patient Dies in Florida After Liposuction...Performed by an Occupational Medicine Specialist

Awful stories of bad plastic surgery outcomes abound on the internet.  Unfortunately, there is a common theme:  The plastic surgery is often NOT performed by plastic surgeons.

Rohie Kah-Orukotan, who was herself a nurse, died after liposuction surgery on September 25, 2009, in Broward County, Florida.  The operation had been performed in a medical spa by Dr. Omar J. Brito Marin, an occupational medicine specialist, who had taken a three-day course on cosmetic surgery procedures.

This case nearly brings me to tears.  Not only is she an attractive young lady with a bright future, but the circumstances surrounding her death are unsafe and bizarre.

• Her physician is an occupational medicine specialist.
• • What the heck is that?!  I have been a physician for 13 years, and I don't even know what an occupational medicine specialist is.
  • Everyone should know what a real plastic surgeon is--a physician who has been certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery. 
  • How could a nurse not know the difference? 
• He took a three-day course on cosmetic surgery.
• • I spent close to seven years in surgical training after four years of medical school. 
  • How could a nurse not know that a three-day course over a long weekend is not adequate?
  • Couldn't she have found a Board Certified Plastic Surgeon with years of training?
• The surgery was performed in a medical spa.
• • Liposuction is real surgery.  It should be performed in a real operating room!
  • Safety equipment and appropriate monitoring is essential to ensure good outcomes.
  • Board Certified Plastic Surgeon are required to use accredited facilities.  No occupational medicine specialist would even be let in the door to a certified facility.
  • How could a nurse not know that it is unsafe to have surgery in a spa where people usually just get massages?
• Apparently, the liposuction was performed with carboxytherapy, which supposedly reduces stretch marks and cellulite.
• • I have never even heard of carboxytherapy.
  • There is certainly NO scientific evidence that carboxytherapy reduces stretch marks and cellulite.
  • Carboxytherapy is NOT a standardized liposuction technique.
  • (For discussions of other liposuction gimmicks, check out http://www.pickartplasticsurgeryblog.com/2009/10/waterjet-assisted-liposuction-breakthrough-or-gimmick.html or http://www.pickartplasticsurgeryblog.com/2009/01/smartlipo-and-brazilian-butt-lifting-can-a-patient-use-the-smartlipo-fat-for-buttock-augmentation.html) 
  • How could a nurse fail to know that she was being duped with a gimmicky procedure?

This case teaches me that even professionals can be tricked.  If a nurse can be convinced to undergo gimmicky liposuction in the back room of a spa by a non-surgeon after he trained over a long-weekend, then the lay public is in deep trouble.

Comments

[generic propecia]

very Interesting information regarding the liposuction ...
It could happen with any of us, always we need to have a good study of case before surgery.

Thanks mate.

[New York liposuctions]

Liposuction is not for everyone, but for those who choose it, the effects can be very good. Doctors generally pre-screen candidates and determine what the chances for a successful outcome are before they proceed. In general, good candidates are those of fairly normal weight, good health and those who possess elastic skin qualities. Complications, however, can arise and the informed patient understands this and approaches the procedure with realistic expectations.

[Michael Pickart]

I agree. However, pre-screening is not necessarily easy. Appropriate training provides the surgeon the skills to make toughdecisions. An occupational medicine specialist does NOT have the education to make formal pre-surgical decisions. See a Board Certified Plastic Surgeon!

Michael C. Pickart, M.D., F.A.C.S.
Pickart Plastic Surgery, Inc.

428 Poli St.,#2C, Ventura, CA 93001
(805) 648-4567 | fax (805) 641-0811

To: info@pickartplasticsurgery.com