Fred Schulte, KFF Health News
An investigation into beauty surgical procedure chains by KFF Health News and NBC News has prompted client warnings from trade teams representing plastic surgeons and a name for extra transparency round doctor disciplinary actions in California.
The American Society of Plastic Surgeons, which represents 12,000 medical doctors, is now warning sufferers to “do their homework” earlier than getting liposuction, a Brazilian butt raise, a “Mommy Makeover,” or different beauty procedures.
“Plastic surgery is real surgery with real risks, and the risk of complications is never zero,” stated Scott Hollenbeck, speedy previous president of the plastic surgeons group.
And in an unique interview, TJ Watkins, a member of California’s medical licensing board, known as for better transparency within the secretive course of for disciplining physicians, saying the board ought to alert the general public about medical doctors beneath investigation for alleged misconduct.
Hollenback and Watkins have been reacting to the “Body Shops” collection, which examined allegations of disfiguring accidents and even deaths tied to beauty surgical procedures.
One story revealed that California plastic surgeon Heidi Regenass had three patients die inside just a few months after liposuction and fats switch operations, in keeping with medical malpractice lawsuits filed in California courts.
A criticism to the medical board from a affected person’s daughter triggered an inside board overview of the surgeon, however the public will hear nothing till the investigation is concluded, which might take years.
“If you were really protecting the patients, there would be a notice right now that says this doctor is being investigated,” stated Watkins, one in all seven nonphysicians appointed to the medical board to symbolize shoppers.
Regenass, a board-certified plastic surgeon, didn’t reply to quite a few requests for touch upon the affected person deaths. In response to medical malpractice lawsuits filed by households of the three ladies, she has denied any negligence or that her actions brought on any deaths. One case was settled in 2024, whereas the 2 others are pending in California courts.
On Feb. 9, the California medical board filed an administrative complaint towards Regenass unrelated to the three affected person deaths. The criticism accuses Regenass of “repeated negligent acts” in caring for a 49-year-old girl who had liposuction on her stomach and arms with a fats switch to her buttocks in July 2022. The board alleged that the surgeon “failed to document an appropriate physical examination prior to surgery” and didn’t hold “adequate and accurate records” of the lady’s care. The board requested an administrative listening to on the accusations, although no date has been set. Lawyers for Regenass didn’t reply to a request for touch upon the brand new criticism.
Some affected person lawsuits have accused beauty surgical procedure corporations of hiring medical doctors who lacked adequate training or had troubled pasts, and of utilizing high-pressure gross sales techniques and misleading advertising pitches that downplay security dangers, federal and state court docket information present. The corporations dispute these allegations and have received dismissal of some fits. Other instances have been settled beneath confidential phrases, though a Georgia choose late final yr awarded $52 million to the household of a lady who died after liposuction and a Brazilian butt raise.
Christopher Nuland, an legal professional and lobbyist for the Florida Society of Plastic Surgeons, stated that the “Body Shops” investigation “underscores the need for vigilance from all parties.”
“There is an opportunity for better legislation, such as regulating post-surgical recovery centers and better enforcement of existing laws,” he stated in an e-mail. “But patients need to take an active part by ensuring that they are seeing a board-certified plastic surgeon in an accredited facility and that neither has a history of bad outcomes.”
Nuland stated his group helps a bill pending within the Florida Legislature that might require licenses and set high quality requirements for restoration homes the place sufferers usually keep to recuperate for just a few days after beauty surgical procedure. Florida officers have struggled for years to manage unlicensed services that usually cost sufferers a whole bunch of {dollars} per night time, although they might lack enough medical staffing.
Cosmetic surgical procedure corporations, some financed by private equity investors, are competing in a rising U.S. body-contouring market wherein sufferers are charged as much as $20,000 out-of-pocket, or on credit score, for these procedures. Ads promise life-changing physique reshaping strategies with minimal danger and quick recovery times.
As the beauty surgical procedure corporations have grown, there’s been little regulatory oversight. There’s no federal public database to help sufferers in monitoring these corporations’ security information, their staffing requirements, or how generally sufferers undergo extreme problems. And complaints to medical boards about surgeons or different medical doctors can stay beneath wraps for years.
Ste’Aira Ballard, whose mom, Tamala Smith, died in 2023 after Regenass operated on her, filed a criticism with the California Medical Board in early 2025.
In March 2025, the board notified Ballard it had forwarded her criticism to the state Department of Consumer Affairs Health Quality Investigation Unit’s Santa Ana subject workplace “for further investigation.” Ballard stated a state investigator interviewed her in June, however neither the existence of the overview nor its standing has been made public. Ballard supplied copies of her correspondence with the state to KFF Health News and NBC News.
Asked for remark, California Medical Board spokesperson Alexandria Schembra stated the board “is not authorized to post complaint information about a physician” until it obtains an emergency suspension of the physician’s license or recordsdata a proper administrative criticism.
“The public reporting of a patient death prior to the Board having sufficient evidence to prove that the licensee violated the Medical Practice Act would require the Legislature and Governor to enact a law change,” she wrote in an e-mail.
But the board’s Watkins stated he believes that the disciplinary course of is rigged in favor of medical doctors, principally due to the ability of medical teams within the state lobbying to thwart change.
“Nobody is protecting the patient,” he stated.
NBC News producer Jason Kane and correspondent Erin McLaughlin contributed to this report.
KFF Health News is a nationwide newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about well being points and is among the core working packages at KFF—an unbiased supply of well being coverage analysis, polling, and journalism. Learn extra about KFF.
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