MuckFlash

Sacramento, CA -2 June 2009- A group of women has filed a class action lawsuit against several Northern California plastic surgeons who allegedly sold them bogus ‘organic’ breast implants at inflated rates. Furthermore, the suit, which names more than 40 doctors in 10 cities, suggests that the surgeons used unsafe materials in the procedures to cut costs and increase profits.

In a list of 26 separate claims, the suit alleges that the surgeons worked together to produce and promote “Orgo-Bust Premium” breast implants. According to marketing collateral for Orgo-Bust included in the filings, the implants are made with “only the finest in organic fibers and hypo-allergenic natural materials” and are “guaranteed to enhance your bust without the use of unsafe, carcinogenic chemical-based legacy implants.” However, the suit claims that the surgeons merely packaged a variety of grasses, weeds, soil and animal hair in commercial grade plastic wrap and charged up to three times the market rate of a standard breast enhancement surgery to insert the dangerous and unsanitary objects.

Lori Donovan, a 47 year old homemaker in Sacramento, initiated the class action after paying for the procedure in 2007 and later suffering from life threatening infections when her Orgo-Bust implants burst, releasing grass and sand into her body. “These charlatan snake oil salesmen told us we should do our part to help the environment, and we believed them,” she said. “I cannot believe they’ve been able to escape for so long selling this awful fabrication to women and endangering their health in the process.” Although she recovered after several weeks, Ms. Donovan is permanently disfigured and over $50,000 in debt for her medical expenses.

Ms. Donovan chose her Orgo-Bust surgeon, Dr. Cornelius Freckshorn, after finding his online ads and hearing some recommendations from her longtime Pilates instructor, who was also planning to have Orgo-Bust implants installed. After visiting Dr. Freckshorn for a consultation, Ms. Donovan says that he aggressively pushed Orgo-Bust as a safer, greener option, even though it was twice as expensive as a normal breast enhancement. Although she was hesitant to pay extra, she chose to trust the expertise of the doctor and go with his recommendation.

After the surgery, however, Ms. Donovan claims that she was whisked out of the offices before the anesthesia even wore off. The office then stopped taking her phone calls and moved to a different location without notifying her, she claims. Dr. Freckshorn, possibly a pseudonym, diasppeared seemingly without a trace, and though she was intent on finding him, Ms. Donovan soon became too ill to continue searching.

As she moved through the health system and began to tell her story, though, she realized that she was not alone. Tens and then hundreds of women came forward with equally horrific tales of being duped by fictional doctors for expensive “organic” implants, and all were as eager as Lori to find justice.

Dr. Geno Segre, a gynecologist at the Cleveland Clinic, said that it’s not uncommon for plastic surgeons to engage in consumer marketing around common procedures, but that he had never heard of such a large-scale fraud. “I just have no idea what would possess these people to surgically implant garden detritus into human bodies. It’s like they were trying to be caught,” he said.

Still, based on the rates the doctors charged, the suit estimates that they collectively made over $20 million in 2008 alone on just this on type of procedure. “This is reckless greed at its worst,” said Ms. Donovan. “They should all have dead animals surgically grafted into their bodies so that they can understand first hand the misery they’ve subjected us to.”

The plaintiffs are seeking $150 million in damages. The case will be heard in the District Court of Northern California in July.