A growing number of Australians have been “butchered” by rogue cosmetic surgeons operating with little fear of punishment because of the complete failure of the national health regulator, a Labor senator has said.
As a crisis in the cosmetic surgery industry reaches tipping point, Senator Deborah O’Neill has accused the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) of gaslighting injured patients instead of doing its job and protecting them.
Senator Deborah O’Neill says the cosmetic surgery industry is dominated by economic vultures.Credit:Anna Kucera
O’Neill, who grilled APHRA CEO Martin Fletcher at a senate hearing late last year, said the industry had been allowed to develop into one that was dominated by economic vultures.
“AHPRA haven’t just dropped the ball, they’re not even in the game,” she said on Friday. “This butchery of Aussies who’ve not been protected because of AHPRA failing to do their job properly simply cannot continue.”
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O’Neill said she was struck by the regulator’s attempt to avoid her questions at the hearing last year.
“I’ve invested thousands of hours in senate hearings. It’s very rare for a witness to act as Martin Fletcher did when I questioned him,” she said. “You are the chief executive officer and the responsibility rests with you,” she said at the time last October. O’Neill said that was when the excuses began. “And that is pretty much what happens when Australians interact with AHPRA. Excuses, the big fend and then gaslighting.”
She called on Australians to beware of unscrupulous doctors motivated by greed. “They are not policed and there is huge, irreversible harm being done to Aussies who trusted doctors who took their money and then butchered them.”
In a statement on Friday AHPRA said it was usual practice at committee inquiries for a CEO to be accompanied by senior subject-matter experts who could answer questions in more detail.
“Mr Fletcher only referred questions to subject-matter experts and the chair of the Medical Board when this would more fully inform the committee”.
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