Florida puts limits on office plastic surgery after 8 deaths

State officials want to examine surgical logs to see if more rules are needed for such surgery.

By Damon Adams, AMNews staff. March 1, 2004.

In an attempt to crack down on problems with office-based surgeries, the Florida Board of Medicine has imposed a 90-day ban on combination abdominoplasty and liposuction procedures.

The board is responding to media reports and concerns about the deaths of eight patients during office surgeries since the summer of 2002. Three of those deaths involved combination liposuction and abdominoplasty.

The moratorium went into effect Feb. 11. It requires that liposuction and abdominoplasty procedures performed on the same patient in an office setting be separated by 14 days. Board officials said the combination of procedures increases the risks of a deadly blood clot.

In 2000, patient deaths prompted the medical board to issue a 90-day ban on office surgeries that required general anesthesia or heavy sedation. That led to new safety standards for office surgery, including accrediting of offices, mandatory reporting of adverse incidents and credentialing of surgeons.

But board Chair Lisa Tucker, MD, said the current regulations might not be enough to protect patients. Board officials said they would evaluate office surgery logs to determine if stricter measures are needed.

"This rule doesn't close anybody down," said Larry McPherson Jr., board executive director. "This is a very limited restriction."