An emergency suspension of Dr. Yves N. Jean-Baptiste medical license was recently issued by the Florida Board of Medicine, after an investigation revealed that the doctor, a family medicine specialist, violated state regulations.
According to the Florida Board of Medicine, last year the doctor allowed two unlicensed medical assistants to illegally perform liposuction on a patient in an unregistered surgical facility then failed to properly document important details of the procedure, including the amount of anesthesia used and the volume of fat removed.
The board’s investigation stemmed from an unrelated complaint made by the liposuction patient, but its findings resulted not only in the yearlong suspension of the doctor’s license but also in a $50,000 fine and potential three-year probation following the suspension.
“I think he’s in a lot of trouble because he doesn’t have a surgical background,” remarked Dr. Trina Espinola, a St. Petersburg surgeon and Florida medical board member.
Although state medical boards do not currently limit medical practice based on a doctor’s specialty certification, Florida’s community of plastic surgery and dermatology specialists has grown concerned about the rise of untrained professionals, whose patients they end up treating when complications arise.
The Florida Board of Medicine has taken notice of this concern, and in the interest of protecting patient safety is cracking down on inadequately trained physicians like Jean-Baptiste looking to cash-in on the cosmetic surgery industry after pursuing only a few days of training.
“This kind of case underscores how a weekend of coursework doesn’t prepare physicians to perform procedures such as liposuction,” said Chris Nuland, a Jacksonville attorney representing Florida’s plastic surgeons and dermatologists.
Considering that physicians certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery spend two to three years exclusively learning how to correctly perform plastic surgery procedures, including several hours of liposuction training, it’s no wonder that physicians who do not undergo this level of training are not qualified to perform plastic surgery.
Just as board certified family medicine doctors are specialists in addressing a wide range of physical conditions and illnesses that may afflict both pediatric and adult patients, board certified plastic surgeons are true plastic surgery specialists and are uniquely qualified to perform liposuction. You don’t visit a plastic surgeon to treat your child’s sore throat, so don’t visit a family medicine doctor for body contouring surgery.
