Health takes a new step to limit doctors who perform cosmetic surgery after Justice overturned its veto

The Ministry of Health continues with its intention to limit the doctors who can perform cosmetic surgeries. The National Court recently suspended the order of Mónica García’s department that limited cosmetic surgery operations to those professionals with specialized training, the so-called “Sara law”, which was named after Sara Gómez, the young woman who died in Murcia a few years ago due to the complications of liposuction performed by a cardiovascular surgeon without the specialty of plastic surgery. Health then decided not to appeal the order and advocated carrying out the change through the modification of the royal decree that regulates it, and not an order. This Thursday, the modification of that royal decree was put out to public consultation.

It was this formal defect that led the National Court to the precautionary suspension of the rule. The magistrates understood that the range was not appropriate, since Health carried out the change through a ministerial order, while the regulations that regulate health centers, services and establishments are Royal Decree 1277/2003.

Health assures that its objective is to “reinforce patient safety in the practice of cosmetic surgery, guaranteeing that interventions are performed by doctors with the appropriate qualifications and skills.” This is precisely the main complaint made by the professionals of the Spanish Society of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery (Secpre), which has been denouncing intrusion in the specialty for years. Sara Gómez’s family had also been asking for it for years.

As the ministry explains in a note, the need for this modification comes “from the increase in surgical interventions for aesthetic purposes and the increase in the opening of health centers that offer this type of services.” Health seeks, the note continues, to ensure that these operations are performed exclusively by doctors with a surgical or medical-surgical specialty that includes competencies in aesthetic surgery in their official training program.