Plastic Surgeon Ethics: Would You Go to Your Child's Career Day?
asked 1 year ago by anon
Latest answer by Richard H. Tholen, MD, FACS
Question viewed 653 times
Tags: ethics, plastic surgeon
A plastic surgeon in Virginia attended his child's career day, and let kids feel some breast implants (just the implant, not in a patient :) ) They were 4-6th graders. A lot of parents were upset about this. Not only because their kids were "coppin a feel" of fake breasts, but that they were being exposed to plastic surgery in general at an age where body issues are highly prevelant.
Do you think this was appropriate? Would you (or have you) attend your child's career day? Maybe without the implants? Curious what other doctors think.
14 answers to Plastic Surgeon Ethics: Would You Go to Your Child's Career Day?
+2
Plastic surgeons at career day
I'm glad the plastic surgeon did not offer gender reassignment in his practice...
I would proudly attend such a day, and would point out how plastic surgeons help patients on a daily basis with problems that have been bothering them their entire lives, restore form and function, etc.
+2
Career Day for the kids
Yes, I would attend and participate in my children's career day at school. As with Dr. Rand, I would not talk about cosmetic surgery to that age group. I would take that opportunity and talk about general health issues and healthy living choices. I already market myself and my practice during most of my waking hours. I don't need to do it at an elementary school. This is just my own opinion.
+1
Child's Career Day just fine for Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, but not for breast implants!
I have six children, and attended several of their schools' Career days, Bring your dad to school day, and whatever other venues they or their teachers asked me to attend. My goals were as follows:
1) Make my child proud of what I do and let their classmates learn something about how important their own education is, regardless of the professions each of the students will one day choose. Teachers and Principals need all the help with student motivation...
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Surgeons: Would You Go to Your Child's Career Day?
I would and i did participate in my children career days.
It is a good opportunity to introduce the children, at an early age, to our great surgical specialty.
Implants are not necessary at this early introduction and may trigger inappropriate questions.
Erel Laufer, M.D.
Tampa Plastic Surgeon
Tampa Plastic Surgeon
+1
Plastic surgery at school career day
Plastic surgery is a wonderful career and an important one in the array of medical specialties. Any of us would be proud to discuss our career choice at school. Of course breast implants are inappropriate as would be pictures of badly injured patients, however there are topics such as dog bite prevention, minor burns, and skin cancer prevention that would fit into a class discussion very well.
Best of luck,
peterejohnsonmd
Peter E. Johnson, MD
Chicago Plastic Surgeon
Chicago Plastic Surgeon
+1
Career day
Yes, I heard about this unfortunate experience. I have often gone to career days at my children's schools. I have brought the children masks and gloves and explained to them what plastic surgeons do. I stuck to the appropriate subjects like fixing people's boo-boo's etc.. Bringing an implant to the class was not appropriate in my opinion.
+1
Career day
I was invited to speak at my kid's grade school class. Must have been 1st or 2nd grade. I sewed a banana peel together. And talked abou dog bites. I don't think we have to talk about cosmetic surgery.
Robin T.W. Yuan, M.D.
+1
Career day for plastic surgery
Plastic surgery is a noble and worthy calling, and taking the opportunity to educate children on what plastic surgery is all about is definitely something I would consider. Both children and their parents would benefit from learning that plastic surgery is both cosmetic and reconstructive, and although showing breast implants may have been a questionable choice the fact that they are used to improve the quality of life for mastectomy patients is also an important message.
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Bringing breast implants to a child's career day is poor judgement
Bringing a silicone breast implant to a child's school career day for 'show-and-tell' shows poor judgment- what was this surgeon thinking ? The deeper issue at hand is the public's perception of plastic surgeons. We are capable of doing so much more than cosmetic breast surgery. This surgeon could have brought in some before/after photos of Mohs defect reconstructions, or CTs of a facial fracture case. That would have generated some useful discussion and 'teachable...
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Career Day
I absolutely would do a career day! Plastic Surgery is not limited to just breast implants. There are so many beneficial procedures that we perform reconstructively ,as well as cosmetically. There is obviously a claer line as to what is appropriate for children and what is not.
+1
Plastic Surgeon at Elementary School Carrier Day
Not only would I go, I have been many times. The important aspect is to be appropriate for the audience. In this case, the audience was not only the 4th-6th graders, but also their parents. This is generally a very good time to educate our children on healthy lifestyle habits. It is also a good time to get them excited about continuing their education and, perhaps, becoming a doctor. Although use of a breast implant was not the most appropriate thing to do, I can, possibly, understand the...
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Robert T. Buchanan, MD
Highlands Plastic Surgeon
Highlands Plastic Surgeon
+1
Career day is a good oportunity to educate
I think it's always good to help educate those in the community. When teaching children, I would keep it age appropriate and speak mainly about medicine and surgery in general. There is more to Plastic Surgery than what is shown on TV and it would be good to talk to children about the other things we treat, like dog bites to the face, burns, hand injuries, etc. to help keep them safe. Cosmetic surgery is an adult topic. Reconstructive surgery is for all ages.
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Mario Loomis, MD
Middletown Plastic Surgeon
Middletown Plastic Surgeon
+1
Career Day Plastic Surgery for Kids
I think its fine for a plastic surgeon to go to career day and yes I have done that. Of course nudity etc needs to be avoided. A discussion of cosmetic surgery with diagramatic presentation is fine. The breast implant display is not a big deal as far as I am concerned. I believe its likely that one parent got upset and led the charge. I had a 2 hour meeting with my sons 6th grade teacher and presented to her first and then we decided what was best to...
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George Commons, MD
Palo Alto Plastic Surgeon
Palo Alto Plastic Surgeon
+1
Surgeons attending child's classes
I used to regularly attend my child's elementary school classes around the 5th and 6th grades and as a University Professor of plastic surgery I was quite used to being in a teaching role. I took the opportunity to teach the kids about general health issues like how the heart and lungs work etc. It was fun to let them listen to the heart sounds and pulses and do some simple demonstrations to help them appreciate the magic of their bodies.
I personally would never...
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