How to check the credentials of your physician?

Particularly when you have a cosmetic surgery procedure

When we are ill we are also very vulnerable. Things get even more complicated for people without health insurance or financial difficulties. And when we decide to have elective medical treatments like cosmetic surgery, in a desperate attempt to keep the costs low, we often tend to make big mistakes, like, going to doctors with questionable ethics and credentials. This is even more common among recent immigrants in the United States The American medical community is full of immigrants. Most of these are legitimate professional who have all the credentials and licenses to work in the state where they practice, but we also have doctors who have doubtful credentials. Usually these are doctors that operate in the shadows. They mainly serve the immigrant community they are part of and typically the easiest way to find out if a doctor is fake is when they accept only cash, even for large payments. Some of them were doctors or medical professionals in their native countries but they do not speak enough English to try to get a medical license in the USA or for other reasons they do not qualify to be a legitimate professional. This is the best-case scenario. In the worst-case scenario, they are not even doctors. Perhaps they are nurses or doctor’s assistants, etc. or even worse, their medical license was revoked for some misconduct.  "There are some misconceptions among patients about the true nature of non-surgical cosmetic procedures. Non-surgical does not mean non-medical," says Mark Jewell, MD, president of the Aesthetic Society. "Patients deserve to know who is treating them, what their qualifications are, who the supervising physician is, and where the product is coming from. These are questions patients should ask." Risks of going to these doctors As previously said these crooks may not even be doctors. They cannot prescribe medication, and therefore, they cannot always give the best medicines for the illness that they are supposedly trying to treat. They generally do not carry insurance so that if there is a malpractice lawsuit against them, there is no chance of recovering anything from them.   They do not always have access to emergency services.  They do not follow proper hygiene and sterilization procedures. And they may not have proper ways to dispose hazardous waste either.   Of course, do not be surprised to see either obsolete or lower quality equipment.  (Related article:  Safety issues with cosmetic surgery) What should you do? Avoid having surgery, especially plastic surgery, with doctors that look suspicious, such as a clinic that is not located in a reputable medical center. If the clinic is in a home or a shabby building, you should run from such a surgeon. If any doctor in the United States insists on only cash payments or refuses to accept legitimate health insurance, find the nearest door, and run as fast as you can. Not only s/he may be a crook, s/he may also be wanted by the police and law enforcement agencies.  According to a report by Natasha Singer in the New York Times, South Florida has become the capital of black-market beauty treatments in the US. Miami's proximity to Central America and South America, along with a huge immigrant population and a party scene that caters to sculptured models and bodybuilders make it an ideal hothouse for bootleg procedures, Spencer Marc Aronfeld, a lawyer in Coral Gables is quoted as saying. He is reportedly suing unlicensed plastic surgeons on behalf of clients who have been hurt by plastic surgery procedures done by unqualified people. Is it worthwhile for you to go to these doctors? No, it is not. Some of them maybe good doctors, but the risk is simply too high. Your life is on the line. A better approach is to find a regular doctor – most of them entertain patients without health insurance and almost always accept cash and credit card payment.