Let’s say you had to get off an island onto the mainland. If you had a choice of taking a small sailboat with someone that didn’t have a captain’s license and had very little experience with sailing, or a more stable sailboat with a fully licensed captain with years of experience, I doubt you would take too long to decide. Now lets say that you could take the smaller boat for five dollars, but the larger boat would cost ten dollars. You probably would still choose the larger boat. This decision is being made everyday by people having cosmetic procedures and the choices that are being made are not always the obvious ones.
If you change the details to fit cosmetic procedures you can see the choice that needs to be made. Patients can choose to have a doctor (and sometimes not even a doctor) who has little or no surgical training and is not board certified in plastic surgery, perform a consultation, injections, and even a surgical procedure. Alternatively, they can choose a fully board certified plastic surgeon with years of training and experience in the very same procedures that are being considered. If all things are otherwise equal the choice seems very clear. There are not too many people that would choose the less qualified, less experienced doctor. But when you add the element of cost people suddenly lose sight of that logic. If the unqualified doctor charges $400 and the board certified plastic surgeon charges $600 there are a lot of people that would choose the former based solely on price.
Lets change the details a bit. What if you needed surgery on your brain. What would be more important, the cost or the skill and experience of the surgeon? Most people would not hesitate to pay $200 more for the greater experience and skill of the board certified surgeon. Why should your face and body be any different? There is a reason that board certification exists – the difference matters. Do you really want to place your face, body, or even your life at risk to save a few dollars?
On my radio show, New Reflections we discussed this very issue on a special episode. I invite you to listen to that episode:
http://www.voiceamerica.com/episode/51157/be-safe-be-smart-a-patient-safety-special
Don’t choose the small sailboat with the less qualified captain.
