Florida Senate passes legislation to crackdown on liposuction in unregulated facilities

In response to the deaths of four Florida women, who had liposuction in unregulated physician offices, the Florida Senate has passed a bill banning the procedure from being performed in unapproved facilities.

The fate of the legislation in the House is unclear, but advocates, including plastic surgeons, hope the House will also pass the legislation.

Christopher Nuland, a lobbyist for the Florida Society of Plastic Surgeons told the Orlando Sentinel, “We have met with them and told them it will save lives. Our profession does not support some of the unsafe liposuction treatments that have been done out there.”

The bill would require that most liposuction treatments be performed in state inspected facilities by surgeons that have life-support training. The law would apply to liposuction where two pounds of fat or more are being removed. Procedures performed in offices that use creams or pills as anesthesia would be exempt from the new legislation.

Three out of the four women who died had discounted liposuction procedures in offices where the surgeons did not have the ability or the proper equipment to respond to complications from anesthesia.

Liposuction performed while the patient is anesthetized by board certified plastic surgeons is safe as long as the physician has the training and equipment to respond to emergencies situations. There is always some risk involved in any type of surgical procedure so people, who want to have a more invasive liposuction procedure, should ask their surgeon how they would respond should complications arise.