Doctor had a death on his table 8 years ago, what should I do?

All plastic surgeons will have had complications during their career, including significant complications. Most plastic surgeons will have been sued at least ones by the time they retire. Most plastic surgeons don’t have mortalities during their career but some will.
Having immortality during your career, most likely has a little correlation with skill or experience, but is emotionally devastating to any person involved.
I don’t believe there is any correlation with future mortality, based on having had a previous mortality in one’s career.
If you really need to investigate this further, then you should learn about the circumstances of what caused the fatality.
If the fatality was due to negligence or an error in the decision making, then this may represent a potential concern.
If the surgeon scheduled too much surgery for one day, abandoned the patient after surgery, and the patient died then this would be a red flag.
If the patient developed a blood clot after surgery and died instantaneously, or if they developed malignant hyperthermia as a reaction to general anesthesia and this has nothing to do with the surgeons, skill or experience.
If you’re actively using nicotine and drinking heavily, then perhaps this is not a good time for you to be having surgery.
I suggest having multiple in person, consultations with plastic surgeons in your community before scheduling surgery. During each consultation, you have the ability to ask your surgeons questions regarding issues you may have concerns over, including the surgeons, history of having complications, morbidity and mortality‘s.
Let them tell you in their own words what happened if this is something you feel you need to explore.
Best,
Mats Hagstrom, MD