We live in an age where beauty is everything. We’re all concerned about how we look, and most people in modern society today follow the latest trends, fashions, and are out to look as good as they can. It’s no surprise therefore that more and more people are turning to cosmetic surgery to achieve this. It’s a common thing nowadays for people to nip down to their local clinic for a bit of Botox or a tummy tuck.
But it isn’t just the little things we’re doing to ourselves. A huge amount of celebrities have had facelifts, nose jobs, boob jobs, and all sorts. The private clinics are (I imagine) making huge amounts of money from the people who will go to any lengths to look as good as they can. As with most things like this in life, with an increase in private surgery comes the obvious increase in people making personal injury claims for surgery gone wrong!
A classic example is those who choose to have their surgery abroad. Whilst people are happy to pay to look good, we’re still in financial meltdown with the ongoing recession and no signs of recovery. My understanding of cosmetic surgery is that it isn’t exactly cheap to have! So people are often tempted to go abroad where they can get a deal at a lower price. But naturally people need to be careful about this kind of thing, as you have to ask yourself why the surgery is cheaper abroad. How can you be confident that the quality of the surgeon is going to be as good? How can you be confident that the regulations over in foreign countries is as good? Ultimately, you can’t.
So first things first – if you have had some surgery done abroad that has gone wrong, you may need to instruct a solicitor over in the country you had the work done in, or find a lawyer here with jurisdiction or some kind of expertise in that country you had the surgery done in. This is not necessarily an easy thing to do. Here in the UK we have specific regulations that can help when considering a claim for compensation against a clinic or a surgeon for substandard care. There are laws where we can allege that the proper standard of care has not been provided. In other countries, this may not be the case.
So, what happens if you have some work done here in the UK and you end up in a worse off position aesthetically, or something goes wrong and you end up injured, or if you end up with some form of adverse side effect? Well, with claims of this nature, there are a few key things you need to consider when it comes to finding out if you have a claim for compensation:
The Risks
With any surgical procedure, there are always inherent risks. Infection is probably one of the most common risks associated with surgery, and it is standard procedure nowadays for most surgeons or clinics to get you to sign to an agreement acknowledging that an infection is an inherent risk. At the same time, there may be a risk that your body may reject an implant, or have an adverse reaction to some work done. Again, if you acknowledged this risk before you had the operation, it isn’t easy to make a claim. A claim is normally made for negligence or breach of some law or regulation. We therefore have to prove that there has been an actual breach as oppose to a foreseen adverse risk.
Who is Responsible?
Who is actually responsible for the problem that has been caused? If the surgeon has made a mistake by forgetting to do something during the operation, or doing a less than satisfactory job that requires you to have more work, then they should be insured to cover anyone for this kind of thing. Normally it’s a standard for surgeons to have to have some form of insurance when practising. However, if you were perhaps promised an outcome that wasn’t delivered, then the clinic could be responsible for failing to advise you correctly. Or if an implant fails, then the manufacturer or supplier of the implant may be responsible for compensation.
You may have heard about the defective PIP breast implant scandal which has seen thousands of people across the word pursuing claims for compensation after it was discovered that silicone gel inside the implants was not of a medical grade standard, and the quality of the skin was so poor that rupturing was far more likely. In this situation, you can easily point the finger at the PIP company; but bringing a claim against them here in the UK isn’t easy. Firstly they have no money according to news reports. Secondly, it’s under French jurisdiction.
So, what claimants over here have been doing is pursing the clinics under the Supply of Goods and Services Act. Under this important piece of legalisation, the provider of a product is equally liable if something goes wrong. The PIP women were provided with the implant either by their clinic or their surgeon contractually. As such, we can make the claim against the clinic or the surgeon, depending on who is contractually responsible for supplying the product.
Evidence in these sorts of claim can be of paramount importance. There has to be evidence to support our claim, which isn’t always easy in clinical negligence situations. It could all come down to what your notes say, or what you can do to prove that something has been done negligently. It is sometimes a good idea to make a complaint first to get a feel for what the clinic or surgeon’s stance is when it comes to their liability. On top of that, make sure you get the right medical help you need as well.
