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Politics : A US National Health Care System? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: average joe who wrote (22622)	12/21/2011 5:55:46 PM
From: average joe	Respond to of 42652

Toronto doctor loses medical licence after botched liposuction By Linda Nguyen, Postmedia News December 21, 2011 2:29 PM Krista Stryland went to a private clinic for liposuction, hours later she was left lying in a recovery room for 30 minutes without vital signs. She was pronounced dead in an emergency room hospital on Sept. 20, 2007. Stryland's death has lead to stricter regulations governing family doctors who perform cosmetic surgery. TORONTO — A Toronto doctor found guilty of incompetence and unprofessional conduct following the 2007 death of a liposuction patient has been stripped of her medical licence for two years. The Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons on Wednesday also ordered Dr. Behnaz Yazdanfar to pay $219,000 in costs and to appear for a reprimand hearing in the next three months. Revoking a medical licence is the harshest sentence available to the province's top medical regulatory body. "By her serious and repeated failure to maintain the standard of practice, Dr. Yazdanfar did not observe her paramount responsibility as a physician to respect patient safety," the college's disciplinary committee wrote in a 377-page decision. Yazdanfar also has been prohibited from performing any surgery, except as a surgical assistant in a hospital setting. Earlier this year, the committee found the family doctor-turned cosmetic surgeon failed to maintain the standard of practice of the profession in relation to five patients who went to her for liposuction and breast augmentation procedures. It also found Yazdanfar guilty of failing to obtain informed consent from several patients and that she had not engaged in adequate pre- and post-operative care. Many of the patients had found Yazdanfar through the website for the Toronto Cosmetic Clinic, which she owned and operated. It still lists her as one of its practising physicians. One of the patients, 32-year-old Krista Stryland, died in September 2007 following a botched liposuction procedure. According to the college, the young mother, who showed signs of low blood pressure following the surgery, was left bleeding in a recovery room for at least 30 minutes before 911 was called. By that time, Yazdanfar had started surgery on another patient. After Stryland was transported to the hospital, doctors there attempted to resuscitate her for 2 1/2 hours before pronouncing her dead. The college found that Yazdanfar showed "credulousness and overconfidence" even though she did not react adequately to Stryland's condition. To this day, she continues to deny these allegations and attempts to deflect blame onto her colleagues, said the disciplinary committee. "Dr. Yazdanfar did not exhibit an understanding of the limits of her training or how this should have influenced the care she provided. She did not accept that her training was limited," said the decision. "She proceeded to do major surgery when she had neither the knowledge nor experience to recognize or properly treat complications." During its investigation, the college found that in almost half of 40 liposuction cases it studied, Yazdanfar had removed more than the recommended amount of fat and fluids from her patients. In some of the cases, almost twice the amount of fluids was taken. According to guidelines published by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, no more than five litres should be taken out during a liposuction procedure. Last year, the college also found Dr. Bruce Liberman, the anesthesiologist involved in the Stryland case, incompetent. The committee has yet to release its disciplinary decision. As a result of this high-profile case, the college now inspects independent cosmetic surgery clinics, like the one Yazdanfar operated out of. Physicians who practice cosmetic surgery outside of a hospital setting also now have to go through a one-time assessment to work in these clinics, and undergo a review every three years. Linnguyen@postmedia.com Twitter.com/LindaNguyenPN canada.com