Tallahassee, Fla. — The Florida Senate passed legislation banning liposuctions in unregulated physician offices, but the bill died as the legislative session ended on Friday.
Supporters of SB 544, including plastic surgeons, were hopeful that House leaders would push the bill through. But a spokesman for the Legislature said the measure wasn’t introduced in the House.
The Orlando Sentinel quoted Florida Society of Plastic Surgeons lobbyist Christopher Nuland as saying, “We have met with them and told them it will save lives. Our profession does not support some of the unsafe liposuctions that have been done out there.”
The bill, filed in response to the deaths of 14 Floridians as a result of medical distress during liposuction over the past decade, would have mandated that most liposuctions be performed by doctors with life-support training and in state-inspected surgery offices, rather than in unregulated physician offices, as is now permitted.
Some doctors said earlier that if the bill passed, prices might rise at low-cost cosmetic surgery practices performing liposuction in unregulated offices.
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