On Friday, January 1, 2010, California will have a new cosmetic surgery law called the Donda West Law. It has been working its way through the California House and Senate for about a year. It is named after Kanje West’s mother, who died after her cosmetic surgery in 2007.
Kanye West is a rapper and actor. His mother had pre-existing cardiac problems that were evidently not made known to her Beverly Hills cosmetic surgeon, who went ahead with a breast reduction, liposuction, and a tummy tuck in November 2007. Those procedures took eight hours and then she was sent home for […]
On December 15, 2009, this space reported on a planned cosmetic surgery tax of five percent. It was in a healthcare bill being considered by the U.S. Senate.
Now the Senate has replaced that tax with a ten percent tax on tanning salons. Apparently, cosmetic surgeons presented an effective opposition to that five percent tax, arguing that it would punish women unfairly, since most cosmetic patients are female. A very informative website was created to present the arguments against this tax.
Breast augmentation was the top cosmetic procedure in 2008 and Breast Lifts were close to the top at #6. Typically, men […]
In July 2008 in Taipei, a woman with a last name of Hung and an unknown first name had breast augmentation done. The surgeon was one Lee Chin-liang, the son-in-law of a TV show host.
Lee advised Hung to come in for a second surgery in September of this year and he would adjust the implants. After that six-hour procedure, Hung woke up to find that both her breast implants were gone. She gave a press conference in October about this and stated:
“I did not ask [him] to remove the implants, and the doctor refused to explain the situation to me […]
A couple in North Dakota is divorcing in Isaacson v. Isaacson and in dividing up the marital assets, the husband wants to count the money spent on his wife’s breast implants. He wants the cost of one implant repaid to him.
The Judge stated that this was “absolutely nonsense” and said:
“I can’t imagine people would actually waste time thinking that breast implants are marital assets. It just defies common sense. I don’t know how you would expect me to award breast implants, if you want me to have them cut out and given to Mr. Isaacson.”
Mr. Isaacson’s lawyer has argued that […]
The U.S. Senate is currently considering a bill for what the media call “health care reform”, meaning the imposition of government-run healthcare. It includes a five percent tax on all cosmetic surgery – procedures such as liposuction, BOTOX® Cosmetic, and breast implants that are done to enhance one’s appearance rather than to repair an abnormality or reconstruct after an injury.
These are the procedures that insurance companies currently do not pay for, for the same reason. For example, rhinoplasty can be done for either cosmetic enhancement of the nose or for correction of breathing problems such as a deviated septum – […]
Before BOTOX® was used for cosmetic surgery purposes, it was used to treat spastic disorders (diseases that feature involuntary muscle movement; examples are Multiple Sclerosis and Cerebral Palsy). By injecting BOTOX® Cosmetic, those individual muscles are temporarily paralyzed, giving the patient relief from the recurrent, jerky movements. It is still used this way and was FDA-approved for that use in 1997.
In 2002, the FDA approved BOTOX® Cosmetic for treatment of glabellar (frown) lines. It is also used “off-label”, meaning for purposes not specifically approved by the FDA, such as horizontal forehead lines.
Off-label use is legal and frequent, as the FDA […]
In 2004, New Jersey implemented a six percent tax on breast enlargement that was proposed by Democrat Assemblyman Joseph Cryan. It has driven cosmetic surgery patients to other states for their procedures and has not generated anything like what New Jersey Democrats had expected.
In 2008 it generated about $9 million and cost an unknown amount to administer. It provoked intense controversy including the charge that it discriminates against middle-class women, who, according to the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery, are the bulk of cosmetic surgery patients.
Cryan now wants his tax repealed.
“It was a real education,” he stated. “We essentially discouraged […]
Media outlets are making a big deal out of the death of the former Miss Argentina, Solange Magnano, after complications from her cosmetic surgery. She had a buttock lift or perhaps buttock implants and reports say that she died from a pulmonary embolism – a blockage in the lungs.
Gluteoplasty is a low-risk procedure and apparently Magnano approached it as a non-event. News reports are not claiming that there was any surgical error. It is not known yet how her recovery period was progressing, other than the embolism.
All Surgery Brings Risk
Whenever the skin is cut or broken, the body is at […]
As you probably know, the Democrat-led Congress is trying to put U.S. health care under government control and last week the House passed a bill in this direction. Now the Senate is working on their plan. The plan backed by the White House would put a five percent tax on cosmetic surgery.
With all the frantic spending this past year by Congress, the government needs more income. That means more taxes and higher taxes on everybody. This cosmetic surgery tax is estimated to raise about 5.8 billion dollars over ten years that would help to pay for the 849 billion dollars […]
Charity organizations are rightly upset at the moment over reports that one Trista Joy Lathem deceived them and obtained over $10,000 in donations for breast enlargement. Lathem had married this past April but her marriage was having problems. According to a police affidavit, she decided to tell her husband that she had cancer, in hopes that this would “bring them closer together”.
She shaved her head and communicated with acquaintances and local community leaders that she had lost her health insurance and needed to complete her chemotherapy. Various benefits were held to raise money for her, bringing in the $10,000 from […]