Spa+Clinic Team A doctor in western Sydney has reportedly had his medical registration suspended after it was claimed he had woken patients up in the middle of surgery to ask them questions. SPA+CLINIC credits The Daily Mail for this report:
Dr Leslie Blackstock, who worked at Enhance Clinic in Emu Plains, has had his registration suspended by the NSW Medical Council, who are urging his patients to contact their GP, The Daily Telegraph has reported.
The allegations behind Dr Blackstock’s suspension, which include waking patients up during surgery and inviting partners into the operating theatre to ask for their opinions, will be referred to the Health Complaints Commission.
Enhance Clinic was also reportedly ordered by NSW Health to stop performing augmentations in an unlicensed clinic, but ignored the demand.
Dr Les Blackstock (pictured) has had his medical registration suspended over allegations he woke patients during surgery.
A woman known only as Melanie went under the knife with Dr Blackstock in 2014, but suffered devastating effects.
Melanie, who chose to withhold her real name, claimed her implants ruptured, and she contracted a potential life-threatening staph infection after her surgeries with Dr Blackstock.
She also told TV’s A Current Affair Dr Blackstock kept her awake during the surgery, even asking her to check his progress half way through.
“He opened my chest up, he put sample implants into my chest, and he sat me up and gave me a mirror and asked me whether or not I was fine with the size,” she said.
When Melanie experienced a rupture and went back to have the implants replaced, she was again left questioning the results.
She said she walked out with size G breasts, which were far too large on her 60kg body.
Melanie said she had no recollection of choosing her implant size.
Dr Blackstock (pictured) allegedly woke patients during surgery and sometimes invited partners in to the operating room to give their opinions.
Following the second surgery with Dr Blackstock, Melanie said she battled a staph infection and was told she needed to undergo emergency surgery.
That was when she learned Dr Blackstock was not a qualified surgeon.
‘The plastics team advised me that the doctor that had operated on me was just a GP who had been doing procedures,” she told A Current Affair.
“He had no training as a plastic surgeon and wasn’t even registered as a surgeon, a general surgeon at all.”
When Dr Blackstock was approached by the program, he denied any wrongdoing.
The western Sydney based doctor said he was within his legal right to perform plastic surgery.
Dr Blackstock argued he was allowed to perform the surgeries, citing the definition of breast augmentation.
Melanie, who chose to withhold her real name, told A Current Affair her implants ruptured, and she contracted a potential life-threatening staph infection after her surgeries with Dr Blackstock
More patients of Dr Blackstock provided pictures to A Current Affair of infections (pictured) they contracted following breast surgery with the GP.
He said a surgery was considered “augmentation” if a woman with adequate-sized breasts wanted to go bigger, but was not considered augmentation if a woman wanted the surgery because they had ‘lost one’ and wanted to ‘replace it’.
On legal advice, he said he stuck to performing augmentation on women who did not have adequate-sized breasts.
Dr Blackstock also told the program he had an impeccable safety record, with 96.5 per cent of his customers satisfied with their results.
Despite this, Dr Blackstock was issued a cease and desist order from NSW Health, which was ignored.
New regulations came into effect for cosmetic surgery in March this year, tightening licensing requirements for surgeons.
While regulations were tightened for surgeons, regulations for cosmetic surgeons were not altered.
NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard said regulations were so lax that almost any medical practitioner could call themselves a cosmetic surgeon.NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard (pictured) said earlier this month regulations were so lax that almost any medical practitioner could call themselves a cosmetic surgeon
He said he would take the matter to the federal government and state and terrority ministers to be reviewed.
‘I think some of them are definitely putting other people’s lives at risk,’ he said.
A statement on Enhance Clinic’s website says the disgraced doctor has: “Faced a devastating attack personally and professionally over the last weeks”.
“This has had a catastrophic effect on his health,” the statement continued.
“He has sought help and been advised to withdraw from practice for the unforeseeable future.
“He wishes to thank those who have shown support and wished him well for his recovery.
“For anyone requiring urgent care contact your local hospital or your general practitioner.”
