Woman sues plastic surgeon

A beautician has sued a consultant plastic surgeon over an allegedly botched breast augmentation operation at a clinic in Dublin.

Louise McCormack (32) claims she suffered an open wound which expanded after breast augmentation surgery and that further surgery to address that problem left her with asymmetrical breasts.

Additional surgery to correct the asymmetry was carried out under local anaesthetic and led to her suffering chest pain and being treated in a hospital’s accident and emergency unit, she claims.

Ms McCormack claims she remains very upset about the appearance of her breasts and further surgery would be potentially difficult and hazardous due to a number of problems.

She has sued Marco Loiacono, a registered medical practitioner and consultant plastic surgeon, with an address care of the Hospital Group, with registered offices at Dolan Park Hospital, Stoney Lane, Bromsgrove, England.

She alleges negligence by Dr Loiacono in allegedly failing to warn her adequately or at all of the risks of the procedure, failing to exercise proper care for her safety, carrying out surgery without sufficient experience and expertise and exposing her to a risk of damage or injury.

The proceedings opened today before Mr Justice Eamon de Valera who was told no defence had been entered in the proceedings. The judge will hear evidence from an expert for the plaintiff at a date to be fixed.

In her claim, Ms McCormack, a beautician, with an address at The Oaks, Ridgewood, Swords, Co Dublin, claims she attended at a hospital clinic premises at Owenstown House, Owenstown Park, off Fosters Avenue, Mount Merrion, Co Dublin.

That clinic was operated by Advanced Cosmetic Surgery which has since gone into liquidation and the claim against that company has been discontinued. The Hospital Group later took over the assets, but not the liabilities, of ACS.

Ms McCormack claimed she attended at the clinic in September/early October 2006 to make enquiries about elective surgery for breast augmentation and came under the care of Dr Loiacono. She claimed she was offered the option of a combination of breast lifting and augmentation and re-attended the premises about October 15th 2006 to give her medical history and to provide her consent to the surgery, which she signed.

She claimed she was asked about the size of breast augmentation and replied she wanted to be a full D cup size. She was advised she would recover very quickly from the surgery, it would take 2/3 days to get over it and, relying on those representations, paid about €6,900.

She claimed she underwent surgery, performed by Dr Loiacono, on October 20th 2006 and suction drains put into both breasts were removed the next day. She noted the wound on her left breast where the drain was pulled out left an open hole but, she claimed, was advised at the clinic it was not necessary to stitch the wound and a dressing was placed on it.

She claimed she developed a discharge from a vertical scar on her left breast and a gap appeared in the wound which became progressively larger. About October 31st 2008, she returned to the clinic where a nurse applied a dressing over the wound site and gave her antibiotics.

She returned a few days later when she was leaking large quantities of fluid from her left breast, her clothes were getting wet and she could not contain the fluid with dressings. The hole had increased in size and a nurse tried and failed to close it with adhesive tape, she claimed.

Ms McCormack said she was then seen by Dr Loiacono who gave her antibiotic cream and suggested further surgery which she underwent on December 9th 2006, carried out by Dr Loiacono.

She claimed he removed the old 280cc breast implant and replaced it with a smaller one of 250cc but told her the new one was the same size as the old one. The consequence of that surgery was to cause significant asymmetry of her breasts which produced an unsightly and unnatural result and caused her further severe distress, she said.

Dr Loiacono returned her to theatre the following day and carried out further surgery under local anaesthetic to adjust the position of the implant, she claimed. She was discharged home the same day but that night was admitted to the A&E department of Beaumont Hospital as she was feverish with chest wall pain and a rash on the upper limbs and chest.