Protect Yourself From Surgery Risks

Los Angeles - Cosmetic surgery procedures once reserved for the rich and famous are now affordable to lots of people. No matter how affordable, surgery always carries risk, but there are ways you can protect yourself from unsafe surgeries.

Botched surgeries are not the result of just bad doctors. Advances in surgical techniques have made all kinds of surgeries possible in outpatient surgery centers.

Since 2007, surgery centers owned by doctors have not been required to be licensed or accredited by any agency. Just today, the Los Angeles Times reported on surgery centers that operate without licenses and a push for the Department of Public Health to license all outpatient surgery centers, but not everyone's sure that's the answer.

Weighing in on this topic:

Dr. Michael McGuire, an associate professor at UCLA Medical Center and past president of the American Sociery of Plastic Surgeons and the American Association for Accreditation for Ambulatory Surgical Procedures, a private acccrediting organization.