ELECTIVE SURGERY: Lawmakers Want to Tighten Regs for Cosmetic Procedures
Current regulations governing cosmetic surgery fail to protect patients, witnesses testified Wednesday before the state Senate Business and Professions Committee. State Sen. Liz Figueroa (D- Hayward), chair of the committee, said she plans to introduce legislation "to establish fair and reasonable credentialing" to ensure that doctors performing elective procedures are properly trained. "When healthy patients are dying as a result of voluntary procedures ... we have a duty to take notice," she said. State Sen. Jackie Speier (D-San Francisco) said she was considering a measure that would limit the amount of liposuction that could be performed on a patient. "Liposuction is putting people, particularly women, at risk. We have to put the brakes on it," Speier said. Earlier this month, Assemblyman Martin Gallegos (D-Baldwin Park) introduced legislation that would require doctors who perform plastic surgery in their offices to purchase malpractice insurance (Fernandez, San Francisco Examiner, 2/18).
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