The health watchdog has received a shock number of reports about Victorian cosmetic practitioners

Botched liposuction surgeries, damaging organs, and threats to patients designed to keep them quiet are among horrifying reports about Victorian cosmetic practitioners.

Some surgeons are allegedly threatening patients or making them sign nondisclosure agreements over botched procedures.

Botched cosmetic procedures — including liposuction damaging organs, serious breaches of infection control and surgery performed in unlicensed premises — were among 112 notifications made to Australia’s health watchdog about Victorian practitioners in the last year.

Cosmetic practitioners threatening patients if they sought to complain or speak out about their poor experiences and doctors misleading patients were also among the scores of notifications received.

Nationally, 218 notifications related to cosmetic surgeries or procedures were received by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) between January 1, 2022 and February 6, 2023.

Nearly half of all those complaints (112) were in relation to Victorian based practitioners, with 108 received through Ahpra’s new Cosmetic Surgery Hotline – set up in September, a spokeswoman said.

112 complaints have been made in little over a year to Ahpra about Victorian based cosmetic practitioners.

“Some of the most serious cases we have been hearing about relate to botched surgery where the patient has been harmed by the procedure such as liposuction damaging organs, serious breaches of infection control, inadequate post operative care and performance of major surgery in unlicensed premises,” she said.

“While these are serious concerns, the bulk of the complaints are more about doctors who mislead patients by understating the risks and recovery associated with the procedure. This often leads to patients being very unhappy with their results. We’ve also been concerned to hear about doctors who threaten patients with legal action if they seek to complain. While these might seem less serious, we still want to hear about them.

“Our role is to protect the public from future harm. We encourage patients to contact us if their doctor is engaging in behaviour that is inappropriate because it is unsafe or placing the public at risk.”

Reports to the hotline about threats from cosmetic practitioners or their staff revealed some had allegedly threatened or initiated civil proceedings against other doctors in response to negative public statements and others had implied or threatened patients with legal action over negative reviews.

Some patients said they were too scared to make a notification to Ahpra because of the threats from their cosmetic practitioner, and there were also reports of practitioners, or their staff, harassing or intimidating other practitioners who had made notifications or were potential witnesses to poor practice, the Ahpra spokeswoman said.

Some patients requiring revision surgery to fix or improve poor initial results – or who were offered refunds or settlements – were made sign nondisclosure agreements or release documents, swearing them to secrecy.

Most complaints about doctors who misled patients by understating the risks and recovery times associated with cosmetic procedures.

“Some of these documents require patients to agree to not disclose their dissatisfaction to any person, body or organisation,” the Ahpra spokeswoman said.

“Threatening legal action to prevent patients or other practitioners making a notification is likely to lead to regulatory action and may even be considered professional misconduct.

“If patients or practitioners are experiencing or witnessing this intimidation please report it. Anyone, including practitioners, who makes a notification or assists with our inquiries in good faith is protected from civil, criminal or administrative liability under the National Law.”

Ahpra was working to make cosmetic surgery safer by implementing the recommendations of an independent review into the industry.

The Medical Board of Australia had now finished consulting on three key reforms to support safe practice in cosmetic surgery, with reforms set to hit the industry soon, she said.

The reforms included enforcing higher professional standards, tougher advertising requirements and new registration requirements that assisted the public in identifying which cosmetic practitioners were trained and properly qualified to perform surgery safely.

“Our advertising blitz of practitioners and businesses in cosmetic surgery also continues. So far we have completed audits for 43 practitioners and three organisations. The majority of these had potential breaches which we are investigating further,” the spokeswoman said.

It is understood some patients who have signed nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) or deeds of release but want to make a report about their poor experience to help others avoid the same horrors may be able to do so – but are encouraged to first seek legal advice.

Reports can be made to the Ahpra Cosmetic Surgery Hotline on1300 361 041.