The Ministry of Health has modified the decree on the authorization of healthcare centers to limit to doctors with a specialty in plastic surgery the possibility of performing cosmetic surgery operations. The ministerial order, which was approved on Wednesday, was published this Saturday in the Official State Gazette (BOE) and will come into force this Sunday. The measure seeks to avoid cases such as that of Sara Gómez, the 39-year-old woman who underwent liposuction in Murcia two years ago after which she died; her family accused the surgeon of reckless homicide.
With this decision, the 2003 decree is modified in one of its annexes, the one referring to the definition of the aesthetic surgery assistance unit. From now on, these centers will only be admitted if “only a doctor with a specialty in plastic, aesthetic and reconstructive surgery or another surgical or medical-surgical specialty within the scope and competencies indicated in the official program of his specialty” is “responsible for performing surgical treatments for the purpose of aesthetic body, facial or hair improvement”.
The Ministry, in a press release, stresses this Saturday that “the modification is necessary due to the increase in aesthetic interventions and the need to guarantee that they are performed by qualified professionals”. “The notable increase in aesthetic surgical interventions and the proliferation of centers that offer them have generated a growing social and health demand for better control of this activity”, hence Health intends to “ensure that these procedures are performed exclusively by professionals with the appropriate training and qualifications”.
He also recalled that in 2022 Congress approved a non-legislative proposal with the same objective: “To strengthen regulations to prevent intrusion and ensure that all healthcare activities are carried out by duly qualified professionals”.
The Minister of Health, Mónica García, highlighted this Saturday in a video: “From now on, only doctors with the specialty in their training program will be able to perform cosmetic surgery operations. We are moving towards a safer healthcare system, avoiding intrusion and protecting patients. We are doing this for families like that of Sara [Gómez], a woman who unfortunately lost her life after undergoing surgery in an aesthetic center that did not have the necessary guarantees”.
This is how he referred to Sara Gómez, a 39 year-old woman from Alcantarilla (Murcia) who died in January 2022 after a liposculpture, a type of liposuction, which was performed in Cartagena. “The struggle of her family has been key to achieve this important change. We are taking an important step towards a safer healthcare system, so that tragedies like Sara’s do not happen again,” the minister emphasized.
Sara Gómez, a real estate agent of luxury villas in Murcia, underwent liposuction at a private center in Cartagena on December 2. But something went wrong. The cosmetic surgery took much longer than expected and the 39-year-old mother of two was sent to the Intensive Care Unit of the Santa Lucía Hospital in Cartagena, where he died a month later. “He arrived at the hospital without blood and with many perforated organs,” his sister, Nora Gómez, denounced, supported by the report from the public center. “Sister, I’m going to die, I’m not getting out of this,” he told her before he died. The family then charged the surgeon, Javier A. M., with reckless homicide and the judge withdrew his passport to prohibit him from leaving the country, but allowed him to continue practicing his profession.
- Source: EL País
- News date: 09/21/2024
