Fw: PLEASE POST: WHERE DID ILLEGAL CLINIC GET IMPLANTS? DOCTOR ASKS

[Guest guest]

From: " alexandra gibson (by way of ilena rose) " <agibson7497@...>

Sent: Thursday, April 26, 2001 1:12 PM

Subject: PLEASE POST: WHERE DID ILLEGAL CLINIC GET IMPLANTS? DOCTOR ASKS

> Hi Ilena,

>

> Further to yesterday's story in the Toronto Star. This article appears

in

> The National Post this morning.

>

> By Eby TORONTO .

>

> The death of a Vietnamese woman who was being prepared for breast implant

> surgery in a cut-rate illegal Toronto clinic is a sobering reminder of

the

> extremes to which women will go to achieve the perfect face and figure.

> What is has also exposed is the apparent ease with which amateur, even

> unlicensed plastic surgeons can set up shop in Canada and obtain the

> materials they need to perform the procedures. " The question is, how did

> the illegal clinic get the implants " asked Dr. Lista the chief of

> plastic surgery at Toronto Trilllium Health Centre.

>

> The answer, Dr. Lista said, is that manufacturers will ship products to

> doctors who are not plastic surgeons, but have decided to add the

> procedure to their practice. Under most provinces' health codes, general

> practitioners are allowed to perform such surgeries as breast

augmentation,

> lip injections and nose jobs without being qualified as plastic

surgeons.

>

>

> He said it is a source of debate in the medical community. There's no

> restrictions. If a family doctor tires of being a family doctor, he can

> call himself a plastic surgeon. In the case of 36-year old Thi Hanh Lan

> Tran who was taken to Toronto Western hospital in March after she had a

> reaction to anesthetic, police are not even sure if the woman who was

> poised to operate on her is a doctor at all. Investigators have issued

> an arrest warrant for Minh Tam Thi Le 36, a Vietnamese national who came

> to Canada on a student visa, claiming she was a hairdresser and then

> advertised her services in the Asian press calling herself a plastic

> surgeon from Vietnam. Police say Ms Le operatedat a makeshift clinic in

a

> house in the College and Dovercourt area charging half the going rate.

> National Post.

>

> andra

>

>