Miriam battles ‘quack’ cosmetic surgeons

Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago is now setting her sights on "quack" or unlicensed practitioners who perform "office-based" cosmetic surgical procedures.

She has filed Senate Bill No. 2153, which seeks to limit the performance of "office-based surgery" and other minor cosmetic procedures to licensed practitioners who have the proper training to do these procedures.

"While surgery and other invasive medical procedures performed in hospitals are monitored by the professional regulatory boards (such as the Board of Medicine and the Board of Dentistry), to which the practitioners who performed the procedures belong, the same procedures performed in private medical offices and dental clinics, cosmetic and facial care centers, spas and other health facilities are not subject to similar regulatory standards regardless of the scope and complexity of the procedures," Santiago said in a statement.

Typical office-based surgical procedures include facelifts, nose lifts, tummy tucks, breast augmentation, breast reduction, laser surgery and liposuction.

Santiago’s bill also seeks to regulate minor cosmetic procedures such as cosmetic tattooing, botox injections, and collagen injections.

"The movement of health care services away from traditional in-patient facilities to outpatient settings has escalated the volume of surgery and other invasive procedures being performed in private offices and facilities by untrained and unlicensed practitioners," she said.

Through the bill, Santiago wants to make it illegal for unlicensed practitioners to perform those procedures and even to assist in the procedure by administering anesthesia, analgesia or sedating the patient in any way.

By licensed practitioners, the bill refers to physicians, dentists, nurses or health care professionals who are licensed by the Professional Regulation Commission.

The bill also seeks to bar licensed practitioners from performing surgery or any invasive or minor procedure for which they are not licensed to perform.

Santiago also seeks to prohibit people under the employ of or affiliated with a licensed practitioner from performing any duty that requires a license to perform.

"I believe this would protect patients from unscrupulous medical practitioners who let their untrained and unlicensed staff members perform the procedures on the patients," she said.

As a penalty, the bill prescribes imprisonment of up to 14 years and a fine of up to P1 million or both.

The bill also requires all of the facilities where office-based surgical procedures are performed to have their premises licensed and registered under the Department of Health, maintain and calibrate all of their equipment, have all staff members complete a training program on safe clinical use of the equipment and have backup power supply available and readily accessible in case of power failure during the course of a procedure.

Santiago also seeks to have certain information made available to patients considering going under the knife.

She wants patients to be given a price list of procedures that explicitly detail what is and is not included in the quoted fees. This list should also give details about payments of deposits, their refund and any penalty which may be incurred by cancellation.

Santiago also seeks to have patients provided with a description of procedures in non-technical language. This description should contain eligibility criteria for patients; treatment options, including relative advantages and disadvantages; general and procedure-specific risks and complications associated with the procedure, their frequency, management course, and possible outcomes; and statistical information regarding the probability of achieving the desired goal or probability of needing more than one procedure.

Another piece for information Santiago wants patients to know prior to undergoing a cosmetic procedure is their doctor’s qualifications and history. This includes a list of specific office-based surgical procedures and anesthesia services a practitioner is qualified to perform, as well as their licensure, accreditation, training and experience relevant to the procedure to be performed.

"All practitioners should also include information on their professional misconduct and malpractice history," she said.