It’s not often that something good can come out of a death, particularly a death of someone young and healthy who was taken unexpectedly. So I’m really happy to hear that Donda West’s death has led to a change in law for plastic surgery, making it safer for patients.
In California, the death of Donda West, 58, in November prompted two lawmakers to push for additional patient safety protections.
A bill, AB 2968, by Assemblywoman Wilmer Amina Carter (D-Rialto) calls for a patient to receive a physical examination before undergoing cosmetic surgery.
Yolanda Anderson, West’s niece, said her aunt did not receive a physical exam by her surgeon, Dr. Jan Adams, before undergoing surgery.
A spokesman for Adams has previously said it was his understanding that both Adams and the anesthesiologist thoroughly questioned West before her surgery.
“It’s not like she was 90 or terminally ill with cancer,” Anderson said. “It was something that did not have to happen.”
Another doctor whom West had previously seen declined to operate on her, saying that she was at risk of having a heart attack if she were to undergo the cosmetic surgery.
A coroner’s report cited West’s heart disease and clogged coronary arteries as a factor in her death. According to the coroner, there was no evidence that her death was caused by a mistake in surgery.
It seems that at this stage anyone with a medical degree can perform surgery on a patient that requests it, and because they are often performed as outpatient proceedures they do not undergo the same regulations a hospital inpatient would. How Donda West could have been sent home 5 1/2 hours after a breast reduction and tummy tuck is beyond me – a relative of mine who underwent the same proceedure in Australia was in hospital for four days recovering.
Dr Jan Adams, the doctor who performed the surgery on Donda West, was also fighting two malpractice suits at the time of her operation. One was for leaving a sponge in a patient, the other for only placing one implant in a woman wanting a pair of breast implants. The new law does not stop him from performing surgery, or having to disclose the suits to patients, while the case is still waiting for or undergoing trial.
The new law also means that doctors will be under closer supervision, such as what a heart surgeon in a regular hospital might be under. Patients will have to have a full physical exam. While Donda was an intelligent adult who should perhaps should have chosen not to have the surgery, if she sought a second opinion it is possible that she was told the surgery would be safe. Donda was not undergoing the surgery solely for cosmetic reasons, but because of back pain.
I can only hope that the West family, and other families who have suffered loss related to plastic surgery, can get some closure from Donda’s unfortunate death with this little bit of good that comes with the legislation.
Picture note by Celebitchy: Donda West and her son, Kanye, are shown at a book signing for
“Raising Kanye: Life Lessons From The Mother Of A Hip-Hop Superstar” at Waterstones bookstore in London on 6/30/07, thanks to WENN.
