When you schedule a plastic surgery procedure, you expect that it will be performed in the place where you paid, but that’s not what happened to one patient. The Nightteam’s Kevin Ozebek has tonight’s 7Investigates.
Cosmetic surgery can be the start of a big life change. Kayla Callahan planned to fly from Atlanta to South Florida for surgery she thought would help her modeling career.
Kayla Callahan: “New body, it was going to be lit.”
But things soon went dark.
Kayla Callahan: “I really want my money back.”
Kayla wanted to a get Brazilian butt lift and liposuction. She wanted to go to a plastic surgery center where she could be paired with a surgeon on staff. She chose Jolie Plastic Surgery in Miami.
Kayla Callahan: “I don’t have friends working at Jolie.”
Kayla paid $4,000 to Jolie Plastic Surgery. She was told to expect an email a few days before surgery with pre-op instructions. She got the email, but it was not from Jolie.
Kayla Callahan: “I received a email from a company called Avana Plastic Surgery. This isn’t my doctor’s office.”
She called them and was surprised when they revealed news about her doctor.
Kayla Callahan: “He now works for Avana. Your surgery has been moved over here. They had my money, they had my health chart, all my labs, everything.”
Kayla says she signed up for a surgery center she trusted, not a specific doctor. She could not believe her surgery could be moved from one place to another.
Kayla Callahan: “As a patient, if your doctor’s moving stuff around, you should be able to be like, notified of this.”
Dr. Steven Rosenberg is the former chair of the Florida Board of Medicine. He says there are rules that require doctors to notify patients ahead of time when they move, but the rules may not apply in Kayla’s case.
Dr. Steven Rosenberg: “If it’s the doctor’s office, they’re required to notify patients if they’re moving.”
Kayla says she never had a contract with the doctor. The business was the only name listed on her consent forms.
The attorney for the Florida Society of Plastic Surgeons tells 7News: “Unless that contract allowed for an assignment of the first facility’s duties, then there is a real legal concern with allowing another provider to take charge of that case without the patient’s consent.”
Dr. Steven Rosenberg: “Generally speaking, the files are owned by the corporation, not by the doctor, and it seems like this is more of a contractual issue that the patient has with the business rather than with the doctor.”
Kayla canceled her operation at Avana Plastic Surgery. When she asked for a refund, she was told it had to come from Jolie Plastic Surgery.
Kayla Callahan: “I keep getting, ‘Oh, we’ll call you back. We’ll call you back.'”
We went to Jolie Plastic Surgery, but no one would answer our questions. Avana Plastic Surgery is inside this building, a few miles away. They have not returned our messages, either.
But not long after we reached out to both facilities, Kayla was told she “was” approved for a refund.
Kayla Callahan: “I had a lot of stuff planned after this procedure, and it’s like, so unfortunate now that I can’t even get it.”
Kayla has not decided if she will come back to South Florida for plastic surgery. If she does, she says she is on high alert about who will perform the operation and where it happens.
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