When [_____] sought out a plastic surgeon two years ago to insert silicone implants into his calves he just wanted more muscular looking legs. He was an international stock trader working in Tokyo and moonlighting as a model. However, he wasn’t seeing any results in his lower legs after years of working out in the gym.
[_____] filed a malpractice lawsuit a little more than a year ago in San Mateo County Superior Court against Mills-Peninsula Medical Center and two area surgeons alleging negligence and fraud after post-surgery complications left him with virtually no calf muscles and unable to work.
A summary judgment hearing scheduled for May 10 has been moved to May 28 involving the hospital and Dr. Michael Norris, the surgeon who removed the implants from [_____]’s legs. A trial date for Aug. 19 has been set for Dr. Robert R. Brink, the plastic surgeon who inserted the silicone implants. A complaint has also been filed against Hanson Medical, Inc., the manufacturer of the implant that fell apart while taking it out.
[_____], 30, was a global portfolio trader for Nikko Salomon Smith Barney when Brink performed the surgery on March 28, 2000. Since then, he has suffered from compartment syndrome, an affliction that can lead to tissue death, said his attorney, Randall Scarlett. Compartment syndrome happens when fluid build up causes pressure in the leg. Instead of swelling outward, the pressure and fluid swell in, cutting of blood supply to the leg. To alleviate this, the compartments must be cut open in a bilateral fasciatomy. No longer modeling, no longer in Japan, he now lives with his family on Staten Island in New York City.
After an emergency surgery to remove the implants the day after they were inserted, [_____]’s medical costs have grown to at least $1 million, Scarlett said. His health insurance did not cover treatment in the United States, he added. [_____] was between jobs at the time of the surgery, and he hasn’t worked since. He had just signed a contract with Merrill Lynch that would have paid him between $250,000 and $300,000 a year. Though he can walk now, [_____] is likely to be wheelchair bound for rest of his life, Scarlett said because of further deterioration to his legs.
“It’s a travesty,” Scarlett said. “This speaks toward this profession of plastic surgeons. They are not in a regulated environment, they operate in their offices. He’s in constant pain and under pain management therapy. His legs are deformed and scarred.”
[_____] had the hour-long surgery performed by Brink in his office at the Mid-Peninsula Plastic Surgery Center. After being released and once the anesthesia wore off, Scarlett said he suffered excruciating pain due to oversized implants. [_____] and Brink decided that an implant 19 cm long was the right size. However, [_____] alleges, the implant in his right leg was 22 cm., too large for his body and thus causing the compartment syndrome.
[_____] had no feeling in his toes and was urinating muscle tissue because of cell death in his legs.
He went back to Brink to have the implants removed the next day. As the complications mounted, [_____] was transported to Mills Peninsula Medical Center where Dr. Michael Norris removed the remaining implants. But, as the lawsuit alleges, neither Brink nor Norris disclosed the potential detriment to [_____]. After moving to California Pacific Medical Clinic for additional treatment, [_____] spent the next two weeks in the hospital, lucky to still have his legs.
The physicians deny any wrongdoing. Brink, who has been performing the procedure for approximately 15 years, said calf implants are not common, mostly because people aren’t aware of them. The roughly 20-year-old operation is fairly standard and much like breast augmentation surgery, except calf implants use solid silicone of varying firmness instead of gel-filled implants. Brink said he sees an equal amount of men and women seeking the surgery. Most people who elect to have their calves augmented do it to correct bow-leggedness or because they cannot build muscle mass in their lower legs.
People who receive the implants are advised to avoid sports that have a lot of contact or impact, like football or basketball. Running speeds are also decreased. The procedure can cost as much as $6,000.
Complications can occur with positional problems and adjustments and pain is common for a few days after the surgery. But, Scarlett said, this was beyond reason.
“None of the risks of the procedures were outlined to him,” he said. “[[_____]] believed the surgery to be an in-and-out kind of cosmetic enhancement. This has shattered this man’s life.”