VIC Coroner Calls For Cosmetic Surgery Tourism Warning After Tragic Death

A new coronial report recommends the Victorian government do more to alert would-be medical tourists to the risks of obtaining cosmetic surgery overseas, following the death of a 31-year-old man shortly after undergoing marathon procedures in Malaysia.

Leigh Aiple died in 2014, one day after returning to Melbourne after visiting Kuala Lumpur’s Beverly Wilshire Clinic.

In a report delivered earlier this month, coroner Caitlin English says Aiple underwent two massive surgeries, which included a tummy tuck, thigh lift, liposuction, facial lifts and chest sculpting.

The procedures, which cost Aiple a total of $35,000, were undertaken only days apart.

Royal Melbourne Hospital’s former head of plastic surgery Professor Mark Ashton says Australian standards would have recommended Aiple wait at least three months between the abdominal liposuction and accompanying tummy tuck, and the procedures focussing on his chest and thighs.

Despite Aiple complaining of intense pain, fainting spells, and open, seeping wounds in the days after his surgeries, he was cleared by his Malaysian surgeon to return home shortly after.

Aiple was found to have died of a blood clot that formed during his time at the clinic; in addition to being discharged while still in significant pain, Prof. Ashton notes that Aiple received a lower dosage of anti-clotting medication than would have likely been prescribed in Australia.

The report states that despite appearances and local certifications, overseas clinics may not adhere to the same high standards held by Australian institutions.

English recommends the Chief Health Officer “publish a Health Advisory” that would “serve to increase the breadth of material available to advise Victorian consumers of medical services overseas to be aware that the quality of medical care provided in other countries may not be of the same standard as that provided in Australia.”

You can read the full report HERE.

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