Lipo Burn - Malpractice or not?

Regular Liposuction does not generate heat.
Regular Liposuction does not generate heat and is, therefore this is unlikely to represent a burn injury.
It’s far more likely that this is an injury due to ischemia of the skin, possibly due to the use of excessively tight compression garments.
When the section is done in conjunction with a tummy tuck, the risk of tissue necrosis and wound healing problems is increased.
The most common reason for surgical related ischemia is going to be at the incision line of the mid abdomen.
It’s possible that necrosis would develop from repeated mechanical trauma to the dermal layer, but this is very unusual from Liposuction.
In the end, what substitutes malpractice is dependent on what jurors decide if a lawsuit goes to trial. There is a great degree of subjectivity improving malpractice, especially for cosmetic surgical cases tends to be quite difficult.
Because tissue necrosis and wound healing complications are a known risk of having tummy tech surgery and it is known that these complications are increased with adding Liposuction. It’s going to be challenging to show malpractice.
May or may not be sympathetic to what you’ve gone through.
Lawsuits tend to be very stressful, time-consuming, extremely expensive and tent to not be in the patient’s favor for many attempts after cosmetic surgery.
Jurors tend to have faith in medical providers.
There are a lot of other variables to take in the consideration.
For example, if you have any history of nicotine or tobacco use, then it could be an easy argument that you put yourself at substantially increased risk.
This is not ever going to be a yes, or no answer.
If you want to pursue a legal remedy, then talk to attorneys.
I suggest maintaining an open relationship with your provider.
Best,
Mats Hagstrom, MD