The Surgical Care Committee met on Friday and heard a presentation from Dr. Geoffrey Keyes of AAAASF, whose study indicated the office surgery by physicians practicing within their board certified specialty in accredited offices was at least as safe as that performed in ASCs and hospitals.  His presentation was excellent, and it is notable that Dr. Hector Vila even commented that he concurred with the findings.

While the Committee is still considering combination abdominoplasty/liposuction in the office setting, Dr. Keyes' study, coupled with the revelation that at least two of the earlier reported office deaths may actually have been caused by accidental patient overdoses of pain medication, prevented the Committee from taking immediate action.  Nevertheless, action of some sort is expected.

The Committee then discussed its review of adverse incident reports, commenting that the medical records associated with some of the reports were inadequate.  However, the comments suported the theme that the level of care with regard to cosmetic surgery in the office appeared to be satisfactory, but did note a trend of GI and OB incidents; the Committee's ongoing review will therefore concentrate on abdominoplasty/liposuction, GI, and OB procedures.

I hope that the above is useful.  Should you have any questions, or if I may be of further assistance, please feel free to contact me.

Chris Nuland