LITIGATION

[BrianH]

I realize that we live in a very litigous society. However, there are "butchers" out there posing as reputable hair surgeons who literally scar people for life. Has anyone succesfully sued a surgeon for malpractice. We all know the ideal situation is to avoid these "doctors". For those who have been victimized, the monies obtained from a law suit could pay for your corrective surgery. Your thoughts?

[balody]

brianh,you are obviously agitated and want to get something off your chest.for us to help/advise you need to tell us your story.i was going to reply to you on lennys thread but ive got a feeling this is going to be a long one.so..care to ellaborate?

[BrianH]

Balody,

 

Just frustrated with the nonsense. I received about 2000 from the older micro, mini techniques. The results are not bad, but the reality of HT surgery is that the expectations rarely meet reality and the inital projected costs ($10,000) for me have doubled with no end in sight. HT docs seem like glorified (wealthy) con artists who manipulate our vanity for personal enrichment. My results are not bad, but where does it stop? If I could start again, I would get out the clippers and do a Bruce Willis. I think the HT docs should be held accountable for truth in advertising.

-Density is nominal if your balding is considerable

-The results are not natural in direct sunlight

-They rarely post their cost per graft on their websites (because the estimate significantly exceeds the quote)

-It never ends (until your donor hair or bank account is depleted)

 

Thanks for tolerating my ramblings.

[balody]

brian,it sounds as if you were sold unrealistic expectations,but i believe there are honest dr,s out there with the patients best interests at heart.did i read you were a norwood 5?if so you are never going to get a full dense head of hair unless you have a full bank balance and an even fuller donor supply.thats just the way it is,i know of only a lucky handful who have got thet full look back from a high norwood,nicnitro,bobman and joetronic to name a few.your doctor should have given you realistic expectations from the start.any more details?

[nobuzz4me]

Brian,

 

Not sure who has ever been succesfully sued, maybe Bosley. If you had micrografts and minis, they will not be as natural as FU's. I am sure you know this. I hope you find a solution to your hair to bring a natural look. I had some corrective work by Dr. Vogel in MD which while expensive, I am very happy with. Where and when did you have your work done?

[Bill - Seemiller]

Brian,

 

From your posts, it does appear that you have been duped into believing information that is not true.

 

Much of what you posted on the following thread (found here) I agree with (with the exception of your blaming and falsely accusing this community).

 

I have addressed your concerns on this thread.

 

Who was your physician? What are the details? Was it a surgeon from this site? Do you have any before/after photos?

 

I understand you are upset, but it's hard to know how to help you unless you share the details of your experience and post photos.

 

I realize the hair restoration journey has already begun for you, but perhaps we can help educate you in order to help you make an informed decision moving forward.

 

Regards,

 

Bill

[Al - Moderator]

Originally posted by BrianH:

I realize that we live in a very litigous society. However, there are "butchers" out there posing as reputable hair surgeons who literally scar people for life. Has anyone succesfully sued a surgeon for malpractice. We all know the ideal situation is to avoid these "doctors". For those who have been victimized, the monies obtained from a law suit could pay for your corrective surgery. Your thoughts?

 

Unfortunately in the USA it's extremely hard to successfully sue a Dr for a HT because it's considered "elective" surgery, so it's automatically assumed to be your fault for having gone through with a procedure that wasn't needed.

 

I completely disagree with the laws regarding that because it allows Drs to lie and say anything at all to get you into surgery. Just look at what some places are calling it now... "No Touch method", "non surgical hair transplants". They can say anything at all and not be held responsible because they are allowed to hide behind the "elective" status of the surgery. I truly believe something is wrong with that.

 

If you do want to sue, you will probably be stopped right off the bat by the statute of limitations. In the state I live in it's 2 years, so if it's morte than 2 years after your HT, then your lawsuit won't even get started... and when you consider it takes 1 year to wait to see if it worked, a lot of that 2 year time is gone before you even thought about suing. Then the Dr will try to hold you off by telling you to wait a few more months to get you past that 2 year mark and he is totally in the clear.

 

If you do manage to sue within the time limit, there's a whole list of things they can do to stop you. They'll probably counter sue you for libel just to try to cost you money and scare you so you drop your suit.

 

You can read about my 5 year attempt to sue on my site:

http://members.aol.com/longscars/mycomments.html

 

and another class action against the same Drs that was eventually dropped after nearly I think about 8 years because of the same things they were doing to me (read it in my link above).

http://www.injuryassist.com/LIMA_Litigation/LIMA_Litigation.htm

[wylie]

Oh man....

 

Just when you think it cant get any worse, you go and read something like this:

 

A City Sanitation worker performed surgery on hundreds of men seeking a remedy for baldness at one of the area's busiest hair-transplant practices, according to court papers.

 

When he wasn't picking up trash in Brooklyn, Thomas Bruno was allegedly one of a number of unlicensed people who anesthetized patients, made surgical incisions and sutured wounds at the direction of the doctors who ran the practice.

 

Thomas Bruno is one of a number of unlicensed people performing or assisting on hair transplant surgery.

 

Their work has helped generate malpractice and fraud suits by 85 men who claim they were promised full heads of hair but were left with bumpy pates sparsely covered by sprouts resembling rows of corn.

 

The practice "??? once called Long Island Medical Associates and now the Hitzig-Schwinning Medical Group "??? has offices in Long Island, Manhattan, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. It has advertised extensively and aired TV infomercials.

 

Sanitationman Bruno, 44, has acknowledged in sworn court papers that he performed the surgeries "??? each costing several thousand dollars "??? and said that he did so "at the explicit direction of the physicians" who ran the practice, Gary Hitzig and Seymour Handler.

 

"The doctors established a routine whereby I and/or another medical technician would transplant hair from the donor area to the recipient area without a doctor present or supervising the suturing of the holes left in the donor area," Bruno stated in an affidavit.

 

 

If those butchers didn't lose in court, no one will.

 

That's willful deception and negligence and if that lawsuit didn't succeed, I'm not sure any ever would.

 

Clearly, the playing field is tilted in the surgeons favor, even if he/she is not a surgeon but a garbage collector.