Some fake doctor stories are too crazy to be true but are. They highlight the need for patients to look into the credentials of any physician before beginning treatment and certainly before letting them operate on you.
The story I am about to tell you happened in Miami Beach about 16 years ago. The patient was a former Mr. Mexico and runner up in the Mr. Universe competition. He was justifiably proud of his body and, like so many of us, didn’t want to submit to the ravages of age. He wanted pectoral implants to replace the large pectoral muscles he had developed through weightlifting. The surgery was performed in the doctor’s office. When the patient awoke after surgery, he found he had implants all right: breast implants. His doctor was not a doctor at all but that had not stopped him from performing surgeries for years before skipping the country for South America.
This sad story teaches several lessons:
First, check the credentials of any doctor before submitting to treatment. Every state has a medical board and, as in Arizona, most make doctor credentials and some discipline information available on line. Do not presume that just because a person holds himself or herself out as a doctor that they really are a physician. The state medical board is not going to immediately catch every fraudster who claims to be a doctor. Even if the person is a physician, they may have discipline issues which should always be a huge, red flag.
Second, recognize that procedures which are not performed at a hospital may present greater risks. Most obvious is the fact that if something goes wrong in the hospital, the patient is surrounded by doctors who can step in to help and by life-saving equipment. Another good thing about hospital operations is that the hospital must investigate the credentials of the surgeon and give privileges only to doctors who have the ability to do the surgery in question. Unfortunately, while this is helpful, it is no guarantee of a good outcome.
Third, don’t accept the testimonials of your friends as proof that a doctor is good. Even blind pigs find an acorn every once in a while. Even bad doctors occasionally get things right. I recently wrote about doctors who have malpractice claim after malpractice claim. Someone keeps sending them new patients. Don’t you be among the new patients of these bad doctors.
Fourth, there is no free lunch. Every medical procedure or treatment has the potential for a side effect or an adverse event. For proof you don’t have to go any further than your television where you can listen to drug advertisements. When the actor reading the commercial tells how taking the medication can lead to death or blindness or seizures, I wonder why anyone would ever take it, but they do. Every procedure, especially every elective cosmetic procedure, has the potential to leave the patient much worse off than they were before the procedure. Be sure you understand the possible bad outcomes. Although they may not happen to you, they happen to someone and today may not be your lucky day.
As always, being an informed, careful consumer is the best way to keep from becoming one of the people calling my office because they have been victims of medical malpractice.
