Malpractice News



February 9, 2012


Dangers Of Anesthesia Used In Cosmetic Surgery

In a study based on 6-year data from Alabama and 10-year data from Florida, the Dermatologic Surgery published an article stating that office -based surgery using general anesthesia was connected with more than two thirds of the deaths and three quarters of the surgery related hospital transfers.  These studies were based on mandatory physician AE (adverse effect) reports which were performed statewide.

In Florida, the data reported that liposuction and abdominoplasty operations under general anesthesia were the most common procedures and that they accounted for a large part of the cosmetic surgery related deaths.  

In Alabama, general anesthesia was implicated in eighty nine percent of the adverse events reported in the data.  In both studies, pulmonary complications, as well as pulmonary edema and pulmonary emboli had been implicated in numerous deaths.

The study, by the authors, John Starling III, MD, who is from the Skin Cancer Center, Cincinnati, the Department of Dermatology, and the University Of Cincinnati, Ohio, “confirms trends that have been previously identified in earlier analyses of this data.” 

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