If you’ve ever had work done, or thought about it, the decision of the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal in Health Care Complains Commission v Blackstock should send a shiver down your spine.
This case is a powerful reminder of how behaviour that constitutes professional misconduct can give rise to professional sanctions, criminal liability, and civil liability for medical negligence.
HCCC v Blackstock will be reviewed in the following post. This post briefly reviews how cosmetic surgery is regulated in Australia.
Cosmetic surgical procedures include rhinoplasty (a “nose job”), breast augmentation or reduction, face lifts and liposuction.
Examples of minor cosmetic medical procedures include laser skin treatments, mole removal, laser hair removal, chemical peels, and hair replacement therapy.
What is a “cosmetic surgeon”?
Cosmetic surgery is not a recognised speciality overseen by a specialist college that controls entry and training. Rather, rival professional bodies train and represent members who perform cosmetic surgical procedures.
On the one hand, members of the Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons are required to hold a specialist qualification from the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and to have completed at least 12 years of medical and surgical training, including a minimum 5 years of specialist surgical training.
By contrast, the Australasian College of Cosmetic Surgery is a multidisciplinary body that provides specialist training to doctors who have graduated more than 5 years ago and have 3 years of experience in a surgical environment.
Plastic surgery is a recognised field of specialist medical practice approved by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) Health Council under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (for NSW, see s. 13(2)). Training is overseen by the Board of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS). Medical practitioners who have completed the relevant period of training (and been assessed by a specialist college accredited by the Australian Medical Council) and met other eligibility requirements, can apply to the Medical Board of Australia for registration.
Plastic surgeons are trained to practice both plastic and reconstructive surgery (the Australasian Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons represents those with a particular focus on cosmetic surgery). “Specialist plastic surgeon” is a protected specialist title and offences apply under the National Law for unauthorised use of a specialist title by someone not registered in the relevant speciality (ss 113, 117-118).
No such restrictions apply to the use of the term “cosmetic surgeon”. Unlike a specialist plastic surgeon, a “cosmetic surgeon” does not need to be a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons: see here, and here.
Strengthening regulation of cosmetic surgery: five pillars
In 2010, the Australian Health Ministers Council endorsed a report entitled Cosmetic medical and surgical procedures – a national framework (AHMAC 2011).
In this report, the Australian Health Ministers Advisory Council called for a national framework based on 5 pillars.
You can look at these 5 pillars as the relevant areas of practice that would need to be regulated if you were to regulate cosmetic surgery and procedures effectively.
The 5 pillars are:
- Regulation of practitioner registration;
- Licensing of private health facilities where cosmetic procedures take place;
- Implementation of infection control measures;
- Regulation of some of the devices and substances used in cosmetic procedures;
- Consumer legislation, including specific legislative protections for children.
This report also called on the Medical Board of Australia to supplement its code of ethical practice (Good Medical Practice: a code of conduct for doctors in Australia) with additional guidelines governing cosmetic surgery for adults and children.
Following a long gestation period, in 2016 the Medical Board released Guidelines for registered medical practitioners who perform cosmetic medical and surgical procedures.
Some of the most important features of these guidelines include the requirement for at least a 7 day cooling off period between the time an adult is given information about cosmetic medical or surgical procedures (and gives their informed consent), and the time the procedure is carried out (para 2.5).
For major cosmetic surgical procedures on a patient under the age of 18, there is a 3 month cooling off period, and the patient must be referred to an independent “psychologist, psychiatrist or GP” for assessment to determine whether any psychological factors make them an unsuitable candidate for the procedure (para 3.4).
There is also a 7 day cooling off period for cosmetic medical procedures performed on minors.
If the procedure involves sedation, anaesthesia or analgesia, the medical practitioner performing the procedure must ensure that there are trained staff, facilities and equipment to deal with emergencies, including resuscitation.
It’s worth noting, however, that the Guidelines left two areas untouched.
Firstly, they don’t impose requirements for the training, certification or registration of medical practitioners who perform cosmetic surgical procedures.
Nor did they impose requirements about the facility in which cosmetic surgery is performed.
Both areas would appear to be highlighted by the subsequent case of a Chinese tourist who was charged with manslaughter in September 2017 over the death of a beauty clinic owner in Chippendale. The owner, Jean Huang, asked Jie Shao, a Chinese medical graduate and specialist in dermatology who had practiced in China and Britain, to insert breast fillers under local anaesthetic.
Jie Shao was in Australia on a tourist visa. Ms Huang died several days after the procedure, apparently due to the amounts of anesthetic administered to her. Ms Shao was subsequently charged with manslaughter.
NSW Health review of regulation of cosmetic procedures
As a result of this tragic death, the NSW Government carried out a review of cosmetic procedures.
The report, available here, makes 9 recommendations about how to safeguard patients undergoing surgical and medical cosmetic procedures.
Prior to the review, regulations already required that a private health facility at which cosmetic surgical procedures (as defined in s. 3) are carried out must be licensed under the cosmetic surgery class and comply with the licensing standards for that class (Private Health Facilities Regulation 2017 (NSW) ss 4-6 & Schedule 1, Schedule 2 (Part 5)).
Following the review, the regulations were strengthened to create an offence for a medical practitioner who performs cosmetic surgery in an unlicensed facility (see here and here).
Another recommendation was that the Minister raise the issue of protecting the title “cosmetic surgeon” with the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) Health Council (see here, p 9)
In November 2019, the COAG Health Council “agreed to progress changes to restrict the use of the title ‘surgeon’”, including by self-described “cosmetic surgeons”.
A letter from the federal Health Minister confirms that further consultation with medical and consumer organisations will be required to determine which medical practitioners should be permitted to describe themselves as a “surgeon”.
Following Health Care Complaints Commission v Blackstock, the case for restricting the performance of cosmetic surgical procedures, such as breast augmentation, by non-surgically trained proceduralists offering “bargain basement” deals, appears clearer than ever. Greater restrictions over the use of the term “surgeon” and “cosmetic surgeon” are long overdue.
Sydney Health Law 
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