A shocking video shared to social media showed cosmetic surgeons dancing, singing and laughing as they thrust long metal cannulas in and out of an unconscious man during a liposuction.
The video was played during an episode of the ABC’s Four Corners episode on Monday that examined some of the practices and procedures of high-profile cosmetic surgeon Dr Daniel Lanzer.
Dr Lanzer, a dermatologist who regularly appears on commercial TV to discuss cosmetic surgery, has built an audience of more than five million followers on TikTok and 300,000 on Instagram.
One of the most shocking scenes in the Four Corners investigation showed two surgeons thrusting cannulas in and out of an unconscious male patient during a liposuction procedure, while dancing to Dolly Parton’s ‘Jolene’
A Four Corners episode last night that examined some of the practices and procedures of high-profile cosmetic surgeon Dr Daniel Lanzer
One of the most shocking scenes in the Four Corners investigation with the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age showed two surgeons thrusting cannulas in and out of an unconscious male patient during a liposuction procedure, while dancing to Dolly Parton’s ‘Jolene’.
Another attendant dances next to the operating table while the woman filming the scene laughs hysterically.
The producers asked Dr Mark Ashton, Clinical Professor of Surgery at University of Melbourne and former president of the Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons, to comment on the video,
‘These two – I’m not even going to call them surgeons – these two gentlemen, are not even watching where the tip of the cannula is going,’ he observed.
‘It is dangerous, disrespectful. It is bewildering,
‘If this was not true you’d think, ok, this can’t be Australia. If you didn’t show me these people, you’d think, oh, this can’t be happening in Australia and here it is, you’re showing me.
‘Where have we gone so wrong in Australia that these two individuals think this is acceptable, think this is reasonable, think that this is fair game.’
The program said Dr Lanzer had reprimanded the staff members involved in the incident.
One video posted to social media showed Dr Lanzer talking to the camera while he moves a large cannula in and out of a patient. ‘This is incredibly dangerous,’ plastic surgeon Dr Mark Ashton said after viewing the video
Another video Dr Lanzer posted to social media shows him talking to the camera while he moves a large cannula in and out of a patient.
‘In the four sentences I saw Dr Lanzer talk to the camera then, he didn’t have any idea where the tip of that cannula was,’ Dr Ashton said.
‘You need to visually, directly look at where the tip of the cannula is, at all times. That’s surgery 101 that you learn in the first week of training.
‘This is incredibly dangerous.’
Two specialist plastic surgeons, Dr Craig Rubinstein and Dr Patrick Briggs, also weighed in on Dr Lanzer’s method.
‘One of the risks of liposuction is penetration through the abdomen into other organs, such as liver, kidney and even an aorta.
‘To be using a cannula, not actually watching where the cannula is, is dangerous.’
Other former patients complained to the program about the lasting effects of the cosmetic work they had received at one of Dr Lanzer’s clinics.
A nurse, Kathy Hubble, claimed she was diagnosed with a serious bacterial infection, cellulitis, after two procedures over two days at Dr Lanzer’s Sydney clinic.
Four Corners played audio messages from Dr Lanzer to staff in which he stressed they were never to admit fault in the face of a complaint by a client.
‘Never, ever, ever, not slightly ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever admit to a patient that something’s bad or wrong,’ he said in the message.
‘They’ll use it against you 100 times for the rest of your life.
‘Never, ever, ever, ever own up to anything.’
He also told staff not to send clients to a GP because it’s ‘the worst possible thing you can do … and it always creates problems.’
In an Instagram post yesterday Dr Lanzer said he would be ‘forced to share the truth on every aspect of this attempt to defame me’
Dr Lanzer filmed a video response to the claims made in the program in which he claimed to have ‘the highest standards of hygiene and safety.’
‘I do not think that there’s a surgeon in the world who could show a better safety record than I’ve done over the last 30 years,’ he said.
‘In my 30-year career, I’ve never had a single ruling or recommendation against me regarding my method of surgery or my patient care by any regulator.’
In an Instagram post yesterday Dr Lanzer said he would be ‘forced to share the truth on every aspect of this attempt to defame me’.
‘It’s not going to be nice and goes against the core of my body. I have no choice but to spread the truth. Be patient and you will see all.’
He also addressed followers on Instagram in response to the program in which he said he was the victim of a ‘turf war’ that had been going on for a number of years.
‘There has been a longstanding, one-sided, jealousy and financially related turf war between a group of surgeons called plastic surgeons and non-plastic surgeons,’ he said.
‘There’s a group of three plastic surgeons who have got together to try and defame me.
‘I’ve kept quiet all these years because I always said just focus on what you’re doing but now they’re trying to go public, it’s given me no choice and I’m going to have to reveal to Australia and the world the truth.
‘I’m going to show you some horrific, horrific results of one of those surgeons who says he’s so great and puts me down.’
‘I love you all, the truth will prevail. I’m smiling and laughing because I know the truth, so don’t worry.’
Dr Lanzer promised to post a video response to the program and his detractors on Youtube within the next 24 hours.
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