'Dangerous to public': Celebrity cosmetic surgeon suspended amid investigation

A patient underwent liposuction on her thighs, abdomen and pelvis as well as fat transfer to her breasts with Wells in August 2021. She said the procedure left her legs deformed and had pain in her legs, poor circulation and she had seromas in her body. breast pain.

Clockwise from left: In stills from the video, Dr Ryan Wells chases a fly during the procedure; patients who are not happy with the results of liposuction; Dr. Wells removes fat from patients; and body fluids and fat are collected during the procedure.

A class action proposed by Maddens Attorney for each patient from Wells, Lanzer and other colleagues has registered more than 500 patients. The legal action accuses doctors of engaging in misleading and deceptive behavior. Doctors defended the move.

Kathy Hubble joins the Maddens class action. She had two liposuction procedures in 2018: the first by Lanzer, who did her legs, and the second by Wells, who did her abs. He said it left him with chronic pain in his stomach.

Hubble ended up at Gosford Hospital for almost a week after developing a serious infection, cellulitis, shortly after his second procedure.

“Dr Wells actually texted me [while she was in hospital] said he would come and help me to the clinic,” he recalled. “Back to the dirty neighborhood.”

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“This man is a real danger to the public … he was directly responsible for the procedure on my stomach, which has now left me with chronic pain and hard and supple tissue and loss of feeling in that area as well,” she said. .

After learning about her suspension, she said she was looking forward to working with AHPRA on her experience.

Wells posted on Instagram on June 24, shortly after the media exposed, saying hundreds of patients had come out to support him and “highlight their positive experiences with myself, their procedures with me and their relationships with my staff”.

“Given the recent media coverage… I felt the need to say something. My patients and anyone who knows me both professionally and personally are shocked by the depiction. Like me,” he said in his post.

What he didn’t say was that he had shut down his Facebook page and turned off comments on Instagram after a series of negative comments surfaced.

He told followers he had the backing of state regulators. “QLD Health has contacted me and as expected, there have been no issues with my facility or practice.”

He may have the backing of state regulators but the Australasian College of Cosmetic Surgery and Medicine (ACCSM) drops him as a medical associate from his website.

A series of questions were sent to Wells, but he failed to answer.

Wells joined Lanzer Clinic in 2018 and worked throughout the network before heading up the Queensland branch in late 2020. When Lanzer submitted his medical registration and departed overseas in October 2021, Wells distanced himself from Lanzer, renamed the facility the Aesthetic Institute and took a license. hospital today.

Professor Mark Ashton reacts to a shocking video of the surgical procedure revealed in the investigation.Credit:60 minutes

However, her Instagram post informed her patient that she was planning to move after failed negotiations to buy the hospital building. “I have made the difficult decision to move,” he said. “My team and I are entering another transition period and will continue to update all patients during this period.”

The June 9 media investigation included leaked footage captured by a nurse in March 2021 and posted by Wells showing Wells in a theater room trying to kill a fly with a blanket as the patient lay naked and unconscious after surgery. The light fitting whipped back and forth as he smacked the blankets in an attempt to kill the flies. Another nurse posted a “crying with laughter” emoji, indicating that they don’t take patient safety seriously.

University of Melbourne Professor of Surgery Mark Ashton was horrified, saying flies in the operating room meant the system was broken. He said leaving a woman naked and unconscious after surgery was not an acceptable standard of care.

The footage was among the thousands of videos and internal communications this masthead saw.

The WhatsApp messages included evidence of staff discussing going back up to a year of critical documents before a regulatory audit and one of the head nurses asking them to hide certain equipment and chemicals in the attic.

The cosmetic procedure industry is a rapidly growing sector with Australians being the highest per capita consumer of tummy tuck, facelifts, liposuction, breast implants and fillers. It has been described as the Wild West.

Social media encourages businesses and critics are silenced.

A review of the sector is ongoing with recommendations expected in late August or early September. The hope is that it will bring about some meaningful action. If it is not far enough, more patients will be harmed.

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