A 33-YEAR-OLD woman claimed yesterday her outcome after breast augmentation surgery at a private cosmetic surgery clinic in Dublin would have been much better had she received proper post-operative care when an infection set in.
Catherine McCormack from Swords was giving evidence at a Medical Council fitness to practise inquiry into allegations of professional misconduct against an Italian plastic surgeon.
Dr Marco Loiacono faced 12 allegations of professional misconduct in relation to her treatment.
These include allegations that he performed surgery on her within days of an initial consultation, that she had been incentivised by way of a discount to have the operation without an adequate “cooling-off period”, that he carried out surgery when he knew he or other appropriately qualified practitioners would not be available to address post-operative complications, failed to remove her left breast implant in a timely manner, failed to arrange for her to be referred to a hospital for appropriate care, failed to maintain adequate medical records, and failed to apply adequate standards of clinical competence or judgment.
Ms McCormack, a receptionist and mother of three, told the inquiry she attended for the procedure at Advanced Cosmetic Surgery’s (ACS) Mount Merrion Clinic on October 20th 2006, five days after she and her sister had an initial consultation with ACS on Sunday October 15th, 2006. They were told they would get a discount if they booked in within days.
They both attended for surgery at a cost of €5,300, giving them a discount of €600.
The initial consultation was with another surgeon who explained the risks, she said, but Dr Loiacono did her surgery.
She said she was initially happy with the outcome of surgery, which was to bring her from a B bra cup size to a D/DD cup. But days after having her stitches out on October 28th her left breast “became very swollen and very red and very tender” and clear fluid was oozing from it. She returned to the clinic and a nurse drained the wound and told her to return the next day, November 9th, to see her surgeon. Dr Loiacono, she says, told her that day they could try to save the implant by treating the infection with antibiotics. She said he did not discuss with her the option of immediately removing the left implant.
Ms McCormack said the wound came apart in the following days and on November 30th with it still leaking she phoned the clinic to say she wanted the implant out. She spoke to the patient co-ordinator who said her surgeon was not in the country. Her mother then rang the clinic and threatened to take her to Beaumont Hospital and seek legal advice afterwards if they didn’t remove the implant that day. About an hour later ACS phoned to say they would fly a surgeon from Galway to treat her.
Dr Loiacono saw her later that evening and removed the implant and part of her infected breast tissue. She said the surgeon indicated he could try to reinsert the implant after three to six months but she didn’t want any further surgery at ACS. She had an implant reinserted at the Mater hospital in November 2007 and after recovering lodged a complaint with the Medical Council in September 2008.
She said she had to go around for nearly a year with two different size breasts and now had no flesh under her left nipple. She claimed she should not have been sent home “to suffer for three more weeks” after infection set in.
Dr Loiacono (33) indicated he gave her the option of having her implant removed immediately on seeing the infection. This was the “cheaper” option but she did not go for it, he said.
He also said if he knew she was offered a discount he would not have carried out her surgery at all.
Furthermore he said there were communication problems with management of ACS – which has since gone into liquidation – and he stopped working for them.
The inquiry was adjourned to January for an expert witness to attend.