Plastic Surgeons Settled 290 Malpractice Lawsuits Continue to Practice

Two Jacksonville plastic surgeons who operate out of the same clinic and have settled 290 individual malpractice claims continue to practice medicine in the State of Florida. This information has come to light amid three new cosmetic surgery malpractice claims against them. The father and son team allegedly botched numerous breast implant surgeries leaving women both severely disfigured and in serious pain.

In addition to these allegations, Allergan, a breast implant manufacturer has been implicated in a scheme to replace otherwise allegedly faulty implants even though there is little proof that the implants they replaced were defective. Between 2008 and 2015, the surgical practice purchased about 11,000 pairs of Allergan implants as the surgeons made over 5000 warranty claims against accusing these companies of producing faulty implants.

The case against Allergan 

Allergan claims that the women who named the surgeons and the company in their lawsuits have yet to prove that Allergan knew about the warranty claims. When asked whether Allergan was still selling breast implants to the surgeons, Allergan’s attorney claimed that they didn’t know. However, attorneys for the plaintiffs claim that Allergan continues to sell breast implants to the surgeons.

These lawsuits claim that the surgeons offered free follow-up surgeries which were paid for by Allergan at a cost of between $1200 and $2400. These surgeries were paid through the use of their own insurance company which was meant to hide losses from the SEC.

The case against the surgeons 

The surgeons maintain that they are highly qualified and experienced and are not responsible for the 290 claims against them despite their insurance company having settled these claims. They maintain that the allegations against them are false or exaggerated.

The allegations against the surgeons include:

• The breast implants were larger than the women wanted them to be resulting in uneven, painful, and misshapen breasts.
• Some of the women claim to have found black mold in their breast implants.
• The surgeons used ketamine as opposed to having an anesthesiologist during surgery. Women claimed that they began to hallucinate and/or wake up during the surgeries.

The new lawsuits claim that the same behavior that resulted in 290 lawsuits against the surgeons continued in 2016 and 2017.

One woman claims that she required seven surgeries from the doctors and during that time her breasts increased from A cup to a DDD, which was much larger than she had requested. She experienced chronic pain during this period and her breasts were left unevenly sized.

These doctors continue to practice cosmetic surgery in the State of Florida and the Florida Department of Health contends that it has not found probable cause for any of the claims that it has investigated so far.

Talk to a Tampa medical malpractice attorney today 

Cosmetic surgery remains one of the top causes of medical malpractice lawsuits in Florida. Surgeons offering “cheaper alternatives” should be regarded suspiciously. If you have been injured by a plastic surgeon, talk to the Tampa medical malpractice attorneys at Palmer | Lopez today.