Ex-bankrupt cosmetic surgeon struck off over botched breast procedures

We’re sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. We’re working to restore it. Please try again later.

Advertisement

This was published 3 years ago

Ex-bankrupt cosmetic surgeon struck off over botched breast procedures

By Jenny Noyes

A formerly bankrupt cosmetic surgeon who performed botched surgeries in an unlicensed private health facility will be struck off the medical register for seven years after a finding of professional misconduct was upheld by the NSW Civil and Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

Les Blackstock was prosecuted last year and fined $255,000 for conducting a private health facility and performing treatments without a licence at his ​​Enhance Clinic at Emu Plains. On Wednesday, the tribunal upheld complaints against Mr Blackstock relating to surgeries on 10 patients performed at the Enhance Clinic, and unsatisfactory professional conduct towards 12 patients.

Cosmetic surgeon Les Blackstock has been deregistered.

Cosmetic surgeon Les Blackstock has been deregistered.

The complaints against Mr Blackstock, who has no specialist training, included failure to conduct appropriate pre-operative assessments, obtain informed consent, provide adequate surgical plans and post-operative care and keep appropriate records. Cosmetic surgeons are not recognised as a speciality by the Australian Medical Council.

He also inappropriately woke and sat up sedated patients during surgery to comment on or even consent to an implant, and invited friends and relatives into the operating room to give their opinion.

In one instance, he conducted a labiaplasty at the same time as a breast augmentation – and, while sedated during the surgery, the patient was shown "what he had cut off from my vagina", with Mr Blackstock laughing and telling her "oh that's a lot".

The four-member tribunal panel led by acting Judge Jennifer Boland found there was no reason to doubt the patient's assertions and described the conduct as "abhorrent and grossly unprofessional".

Apart from "very minor exceptions", the panel found "all particulars of all the complaints asserted against the practitioner are proved" and, when considered cumulatively, they "demonstrate conduct of such a serious departure from accepted standards ... that it justifies cancellation of the practitioner’s registration".

His practice of sitting up the women mid-surgery to comment on the results "exposed them to unacceptable risks, including infection", the tribunal found. "The women could not have given any rational consent to the inserted implants being appropriate in circumstances where they were heavily sedated."

Likewise, having friends and relatives come into the operating room was not only "highly unorthodox" but dangerous, "compromising the patient and the friends' health and safety".

Advertisement
Loading

On at least two of his patients, Mr Blackstock performed repeat surgeries while the women had infections from a prior surgery, which the tribunal described as "indefensible".

President of the Australasian Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons Naveen Somia said the organisation was "disgusted by the practices of Dr Blackstock, who performed procedures that he was not legally qualified or registered for, and did not operate with his patients' best interests".

"Instead he deceived the public by using a fake title, and disrespected the practice of cosmetic surgery," Dr Somia said in a statement on Thursday, noting that "cosmetic surgeon" is not an official title for registration with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency.

"There is a critical difference between cosmetic surgery performed by a registered specialist in plastic surgery and a doctor who is not registered as a specialist," he said.

In addition to ordering the cancellation of his registration, the tribunal banned him from seeking re-instatement for seven years. He was also ordered to pay the costs of the Health Care Complaints Commission – although questions have been raised in previous court appearances about his capacity to pay compensation to his patients.

This time last year, a court appointed a liquidator to Mr Blackstock’s Emu Plains cosmetic surgery practice after he failed to pay outstanding debts. He now lives in a Gold Coast mansion purchased by his wife in 2016 for $2.58 million.

Get our Morning & Evening Edition newsletters

The most important news, analysis and insights delivered to your inbox at the start and end of each day. Sign up to The Sydney Morning Herald’s newsletter here, The Age’s newsletter here, Brisbane Times' here and WAtoday's here.

Most Viewed in National

Loading