Thread: Operation ads may break ethics rules

HEALTH

Height boost surgery offer to be probed

APIRADEE TREERUTKUARKUL
The Medical Council yesterday criticised the promotion of surgery provided by a private hospital to increase the height of patients, saying the practice appeared to be an advertisement tactic. Somsak Lohlekha, chairman of the Medical Council, said it will discuss the case in a meeting today before forwarding it to the medical committee to decide if it is against the medical code of ethics.
Unlike other kinds of plastic surgery, height-increasing operations are sensitive because they are usually performed to help people with one leg asymmetry and walking difficulties, Dr Somsak said.
''It is necessary for medical personnel to explain the good and bad sides of surgery to patients before giving the treatment. But in this case, this private hospital and its doctor only told the public half the truth about the bone operation,'' he said, describing the tactic as falling into a grey area and too commercial-oriented.
The Medical Council chairman said both the doctor and the hospital director in the case could have their licences revoked if the committee found their action was against the law.
Vejthani Hospital on Tuesday promoted the so-called ''Height Clinic'' to the public and claimed it was the country's first hospital to perform bone surgery to increase height in adults to improve their appearance.
Pornanake Tardthong, an orthopaedist at the hospital, said the surgery could enable shorter people to take jobs that require minimum heights like flight attendants, police and soldiers.
He also claimed that the operation hardly showed any side-effects and said he believed that height operations would become more popular in the near future, similar to breast implants, nose and eye surgery.
However, Wichien Laocharoensombat, an orthopaedist at Ramathibodi Hospital, said such bone surgery had been carried out at state hospitals for many years. He also warned of side-effects from the surgery, such as infected bones and tendons, due to the metal prosthetics used to increase height

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