The Consumer Complaints Blog

First of all let me start this post by saying that I hate cosmetic surgery. I like my food natural and my women pretty much the same way. So this article is by no means a defence of that industry.

However, the only thing that I hate even more than cosmetic surgery is the mainstream media. Your average Penciltrick reader is usually a little bit smarter than the average person but I followed the coverage of Krista Stryland. The way the media completely attacked the Toronto Cosmetic Clinic that performed the surgery would leave anyone in a daze of confusion and anger. It was blatant emotional manipulation just so they could get some mileage out of a story with an emotional connection in a current and popular industry.

Those familiar with the documentary outlining the dispicable practices at Fox News, will have recognized many of the same practices here. It disturbs me to see how orchestrated the whole propaganda campaign was. I thought the mainstream media in Canada would be a bit better but CTV set a new low for Canadians. The same tactics shown on Outfoxed were used by CTV. The rolling of the eyes when saying statements. The use of “people say” or “it has been reported that…”, are all there in their coverage.

My favourite was when they had one of the plastic surgeons state that a woman had liposuction done on her legs by an Ear Nose and Throat doctor. The reporter repeating “by an ear nose and throat?” with utter shock and disbelief as if it was one of the most ridiculous things she’d ever heard of. Or one time they said that the doctor was not “certified”. What does that mean exactly? Is the government now allowing doctors to practice without a license? Of course not. Nobody took the Toronto Cosmetic Clinic doctor away in handcuffs or anything. When you dig into it of course they mean not certified as a “Plastic Surgeon”. But they sure loved making it look as if it was just some hack off the street doing surgeries with a coat hanger.

So lets stop for a second. They’re telling me that a doctor who works with something as intricate as the ear and throat which are located closest to the human brain can’t be trained to suck a little fat out of people’s legs with a big stick? A procedure, which by the plastic surgeon’s own admission, has some of the lowest complication rates of any cosmetic surgery procedure? Come on, who are they kidding? It’s insulting to all our intelligence and makes me personally sick. I’m surprised doctors are not insulted by this. We’ll, one physician must be because he put out a press release about it. You’ll find it below.

The “Plastic Surgeons” are pushing to have a monopoly over cosmetic surgery procedures such as liposuction and breast augmentation because they make a disgusting amount of money on it. They don’t want other doctors doing it because as we all know, the laws of supply and demand would allow them to charge even more.

This whole thing is obviously driven by money. I find it strange that while all the other news stations covered the incident in passing, CTV had at least 5 different videos on their site concerning the death. I wish I knew who was sleeping with who at CTV because either sex or money is involved in this by the looks of it.

The plastic surgeons want us to believe that they are the only ones who should be allowed to do cosmetic surgery. Only them and no other doctors. Does that make sense?

Before you get to the long press release which makes some more informed statements than I can, let me leave you with this; why is it that a surgeon who can deliver a human life through a Caesarean section, or one that can give someone a new heart, should not be allowed to put in a new set of titties? Surgeries which when I looked into them were much less complicated than the aforementioned ones.

I wrote this article out of frustration. We have laws for everything under the sun but nobody has a law that forces the media to give both sides of a story. They’re allowed to inflame the public and ruin people without any checks. I’m not saying that we should control the media but not forcing them to give a true and accurate account of events leaves them with way too much power. All I’m asking is for honesty. Nothing else. Isn’t that what the media should be rather than shill for various special interest groups?

That’s about the end of what I have to say on this so have a read below if you’re interested further.

As always. Thanks for reading.

Let’s listen to Gore

Not Al Gore but Stan Gore instead. He makes some god points in his press release:

On Sept. 20, 2007, Krista Stryland, a lovely, vibrant, 32 year old professional woman, tragically went into cardiac arrest immediately following a liposuction procedure. Peri-operative death in cosmetic surgery in general, and liposuction surgery in particular, is such a rare occurrence that the knee-jerk reaction is to assume that someone caused it. The focus right now is on who caused the death, rather than on what caused it. Let’s stand back and examine the whats first.

The whats, or established causes of death in liposuction surgery comprise

(i) a blood clot or a piece of dislodged fat traveling to the lungs (instrumentation),
(ii) malignant hyperthermia reaction (genetic),
(iii) anirregular heart rhythm, usually ventricular fibrillation (from either pre-existing heart dysfunction or damage or from a reaction to intraoperative medications),
(iv) congestive heart failure (intraoperative fluid overload),
(v) heart attack (a random and totally unpredictable event). A new, unexplored, potential cause of death is a bolus of liquefied fat and cellular debris – arising from the use of devices which burst fat cells and liquefy fat prior to suctioning – traveling to heart or lungs.

The whos, or contributing factors include: (i) the patient’s underlying physical status (pre-existing organ damage or dysfunction), (ii) medical acts of commission or omission by the surgeon and/or anaesthetist prior to cardiac
arrest, (iii) medical acts of commission or omission by the surgeon and/or anaesthetist immediately following cardiac arrest. (These medical acts could range from errors in judgment – which happens to most doctors during their
careers – to medical negligence – falling below the accepted standard of care).

An intra-operative death can occur in the hands of any doctor, no matter how skilled or experienced. I will never forget a day during my anaesthesia training, when a healthy young man died of a massive heart attack under a routine general anaesthesia in a Toronto teaching hospital, during a simple toenail extraction. The senior anaesthetist remained devastated for months, even though he had done everything correctly. The senior surgeon who performed the most trivial of surgeries was severely affected. When a patient suffers a medical misadventure, it is horrible for everyone: family, doctors, doctors’
families. There’s great pressure to identify a villain. Let’s remember that the cause of death can only be determined by autopsy. The contributing factors, if any, will be identified at a Coroner’s Inquest. It is grossly unfair to the patient’s family and friends to speculate that were it not for the actions of the attending doctor, the patient would have been alive today.
It is even more unfortunate that blame is prematurely being attributed by some plastic surgeons to the physician who performed the procedure, simply because she is not a member of their sub-section of the medical community.

When a liposuction-related death occurred in Toronto some years ago, the identical invective from plastic surgeons was directed at the esteemed ear, nose and throat specialist who performed the surgery. Their argument is simple: Only plastic surgeons should have the right to perform cosmetic surgery. They insist that regardless of training or expertise, no other
category of physician (including ear, nose and throat specialists, dermatologists, general surgeons, gynecologists, anaesthetists, general practitioners) should be permitted to perform cosmetic procedures. This blatant vested-interest attempt to establish a monopoly failed decades ago and is now being resurrected by the new generation of plastic surgeons.
Are they not aware that some of North America’s most respected experts in cosmetic surgery, in terms of both innovation and skill, are from Toronto and notably come from fields outside of plastic surgery? To name a few, Walter and
Martin Unger, dermatologist and surgeon, Peter Adamson and David Ellis, ear, nose and throat surgeons, David Seager, GP, have made significant contributions to advancements in the field of cosmetic surgery. This non-monopoly policy is historically consistent with other fields of medicine.

Without being Royal College-certified obstetricians/gynecologists, doctors deliver babies, perform Caesarian sections, tubal ligations and hysterectomies. Similarly, Ontario boasts very competent GP-anaesthetists, GP-surgeons, anaesthetist-surgeons, dermatologist-surgeons.

A most telling and ironic argument against limiting the field of cosmetic surgeons to plastic surgeons, be it for liposuction or any other cosmetic procedure, is the case of Jeffrey Klein. Dr. Klein is a California dermatologist who, in the mid-80’s, single-handedly invented and introduced tumescent technique, the greatest advance in safety in the field of liposuction. Klein’s 4 innovations were:

< <
(1) Eliminating the greatest risk of surgery, general anaesthesia.
Klein's liposuction is performed under local anaesthetic on a
conscious patient.
(2) Decreasing the risk of bleeding and infection. Immediately prior to
removing fat, large volumes (1-4 litres) of very dilute, buffered
local anaesthetic combined with tiny amounts of vasoconstrictor are
infused.
(3) Decreasing the risk of fat embolus. Klein's technique employs much
finer, blunt cannulae (hollow tubes) to remove fat.
(4) Decreasing the risk of venous thrombosis and pulmonary embolus. The
ability of the awake patient to mobilize immediately rather than
lying in bed for days, prevents blood from sludging in the legs and
clotting.
>>

Post-operative morbidity and mortality dropped dramatically as a result of the Klein technique. Ironically, while Klein’s tumescent liposuction was readily and eagerly embraced by the various branches of the cosmetic surgery community, plastic surgeons were last to make tumescent liposuction the norm.

Many plastic surgeons modified the Klein technique, calling it “the wet technique”, rather than giving a dermatologist the credit he deserves. To this day, they rely on this technique for safe liposuction.

I mourn Krista’s untimely passing. Right now, I feel deep compassion for her family. I equally sympathize with the medical professionals who treated her. Even without the public and professional scrutiny they will surely undergo, I’m sure they are tormented by regret and self-doubt. To the plastic surgeons who are so quick to castigate, I caution: Only last year, a similar
liposuction catastrophe occurred in Montreal, in a highly respected, private Plastic Surgery Clinic. Rather than use this tragedy for political reasons, stop speculating and casting aspersions. Respectfully await the results of the inquest. Cosmetic surgeons of all disciplines would better serve their patients by collaborating on how to make liposuction – a relatively safe procedure – even safer. Be humble, for there, but by the grace of God, go you.

Stan Gore, M.D., LL.B.
Medical Director,
LIPIDOCTOR Medical Clinics, Toronto

Dr. Gore is available for media interviews Sept. 25-Sept. 28/07 in
Toronto, Oct. 1-Oct. 2/07 in Vancouver, Oct. 8 onwards, in Toronto.

I was very happy to find your Blog… Here’s my story, hope it will help other consumers avoid such experience in the future:

I hired the moving company Rockbrune Bros. Ltd. to move our home from Toronto to Albany, NY. The scheduled date for receiving our content in Albany was July 19th.
On July 19th, no truck or local movers arrived and no one contacted us to provide inforamtion on the whereabouts of the truck. After numerous calls and emails I was finally able to learn (late in the day) that the truck would not arrive until the 23nd. We were left in an empty house in a new town.

Rockbrune bros. suggested we either go to a hotel or buy the basic things we needed to stay in the empty house until the 22nd. Having a child and 2 pets we opted for the latter and purchased an inflatable mattress, some towels and kitchen utensils (mostly plastic), three bar stools, and a doll for our daughter. The total cost was approx. $600, slightly less than we would have spent on a hotel and restaurants for the four days.

After the move was completed we contacted the company for a refund of our expenses. We were surprised to learn that the company will not reimburse us for the full amount. The owners claimed that our expenses were not justified and they would only provide $200 as a “gesture of good will”. This is despite their earlier promise to reimburse us for our expenses! We refused their offer of $200 and requested that they reimburse us in full.

The owners further claimed that we should not be reimbursed since we get to keep the things we purchased. We notified the company that we are happy to give them these items (mattress, chairs, etc) since we really had no need for them and were forced to buy them because of the delay in shipment. The company did not respond and to date did not refund us for our expenses.

As a consumer, in situations like this I am left frustrated with my inability to do anything (other than perhaps a small claim but who has the time…). I hope that by posting my experience on your blog people may be able to avoid the services of Rockbrune Bros or at least be aware of the potential issues that my come up.

Sincerely,

Dorit Nevo

Disclaimer
This article was submitted by one of our readers. Penciltrick cannot make any claims as to its authenticity but the article was accepted on a good faith belief that it is an accurate and truthful account of the events listed.

I usually don’t go in for the whole protesting thing. I really see it as nothing more than an opportunity for the media and higher ups to manipulate the public while the rest of us feel like we’re making a difference by blowing off steam and screaming. The truth is that unless there is a mass movement, protest don’t really seem to accomplish much.

I’m a much bigger believer in the grass roots organization movement and voting with my dollar rather than screaming in the cold or something. But to each his own. The point I’m getting at is the video below. The part about the boots was really kind of amusing. It’s nice to know that Joe Public is so easily manipulated into a riot situation for a good old fashioned ass kicking. The host is kind of slow like he’s speaking to a room full of 5 year olds. Anyway, watch the video and let me know what you think.

Before you get all excited, there is no real way to beat the system. But there are things that you can do to help yourself from being completely shafted.

1. Never pay the fine outright.
If you pay your ticket without going to court, your conviction will register immediately and you’re pretty much screwed with your insurance. So even if you get a ticket for 10 over, don’t pay it. Take it to court. Why you ask? Because your conviction will only register after you have been found guilty. With the state of the court system today, that can be up to a year or more before you go in front of a judge.

So let’s say you got charged with not stopping at a stop sign even though you did stop. You can’t fight it because they’ll always believe the cop in court but you can limit the insurance penalty.

Even if you’re found guilty in court, the points will go on your record only after the conviction so they may only stay on your record for 6 – 8 months if the courts are jammed enough. This is because the points are based on the offence date and not the conviction date.

2. Go to court and look and listen for the cop.
The prosecutor will check in with all the cops. It helps if you can memorize the cops face when he stops you but he’ll say his Officer Number to the prosecutor to check in so listen carefully. If he’s not in court, your charges will be dismissed. This has worked for me 7 times in the past. Cops don’t always come to court. Sometimes they are busy or have to work and so on. If you’re really polite when they stop you, they may note it down and not bother to come if it’s just the one case.

3. When in doubt, bargain.
The prosecutors are lazy. They just want the conviction for their stats so they’d rather not sit there actually doing their job. They want to bargain with you and go to lunch early. You can usually get minor secondary offences dismissed and reduce your charge if you agree to plead guilty.

4. Stay away from those ticket services.
If you hire one of those “We’ll get you off for any violation” people, they really won’t do much for you but take your money for doing what you could basically do yourself.

5. If you have time and friends, stall.
If you have an agent that is willing to go in for you, you can try stalling by having them tell the JP that you are really sick with diarrhoea or something else disgusting and believable then ask for a new date. Stalling not only adds more time from your offence date to the conviction but it also increases the chance that the officer won’t show up. But don’t have your agent talk to the prosecutor in this case or he/she will know what’s going on. There is always the chance that the JP won’t believe your agent in which case he’ll have to say that he is not prepared to proceed and you may get convicted anyway. In that case, take the time it took to get to court as a bonus and be happy with that.

6. It’s your Worship not your Honour.
Apparently they get very testy about this. The traffic court has a Justice of the Peace (JP) and you refer to them as Your Worship. The criminal courts have judges and they are Your Honour. Holy crap talk about an ego trip. In any case, you won’t get a fair shake from either because in my experience, they always believe the cop over you. So no point in pissing them off further. Just remember to call him Your Worship and you’ll be fine.

7. An excuse is not the law.
If you have an excuse for doing what you did, it won’t matter so don’t waste your breath. They just go by the law like some kind of idiot robot. There is no room for humanity in the court so even if your baby was dying, they’ll convict you because you technically broke the law when speeding to the hospital. It’s best to try to prepare based on the actual law if you plan to fight the charge.

To sum it up. Basically, just go to court for any offence. The $20 extra for court fees and so on are well worth the insurance premium over a year with points on your record.

If you have a serious conviction like DUI or something, go talk to a lawyer right after your AA meeting. I only intend this advice for minor traffic offences. Good luck.

In stark contrast to the Highland Farms meat incident a little while back, I found a couple of sites today that were fun and useful. The first is a spoof on the Matrix and has won some awards: The Meatrix. It’s just a quick look into the meat industry and the shitty way in which the large farming corporations are growing our meat and mistreating the animals in the process. No I’m not an animal activists. I fully endorse eating meat but I don’t believe that any creature should be immobilized in pens and made to stand in its own shit just so we can save a buck or two.

Is cheapness just as bad as corporate profits? If we keep sending the message that cheaper is better, won’t the big companies always try to cut costs at the expense of everything else? Maybe we should be saying that better is better.

From that site I came across this one: Eat Well Guide. The really cool thing about that site is that you can enter your postal code (or zip code) and find stores, farms, and restaurants in your area that offer naturally raised and organic foods. I’m in Toronto, Ontario and it seemed to work well for me. At least for the stores. It’s not perfect but what a great find for anyone that’s looking at eating healthier. It’s too bad the media continues to brainwash people into thinking that eating healthy means eating low fat food. Why do all the fat people always eat low fat and diet foods? If they actually worked, shouldn’t they be loosing weight?

Anyway that’s a whole other blog post. If you’re one of the people that has figured out that eating healthy means non poluted and naturally raised food, you can check out the Eat Well Guide. Use it to find a store in your area that offers an alternative to the same old shit from our supermarkets inferiormarkets today.