Some of you may have read the article about the death of Kanye’s West’s mother, Donda West , that Valerie wrote last year. Although it is unclear that Donda’s death could have been avoided had she a full physical which apparently the first surgeon she consulted with required. She chose not to go with him. She did, however, choose a surgeon which did not require a full physical. She also chose, or rather the surgeon did not enforce, that she stay overnight. This in itself could have saved her life.
Unfortunately, we will never know what could have happened or not happened had other choices been made. We can only speculate on the outcome. What we can’t deny is that having a full physical and heeding your surgeon’s advice on aftercare can certainly increase the odds in your favor.
But to get to the point of this article. After Donda’s death, a bill (AB 2968) was proposed that would require cosmetic surgery patients to undergo a full physical before having surgery. While it created only a nominal uproar in the cosmetic surgery community over the government’s laws being placed on one’s own body, it received the majority support. It made sense to me as well. I feel it is good practice to get a full physical, give a full medical history and get clearance from a physician before being accepted for any plastic surgery procedure. At least for your first one, or the first one in quite a while, and definitely as you mature.
But, it was announced today, that it did not, in fact, pass. I honestly didn’t expect this in a million years for the bill not to pass, however the reason that was given was not that Governor Schwarzenegger didn’t agree with the bill, but rather because there were 900 bills to be either signed or vetoed. And if he did nothing, they would all turn into law. Scary! So in lieu of weighing each one, many of them got a “This bill does not meet that standard, and I cannot sign it at this time,” Which is better than letting all pass to law when he hasn’ttime to fully review them. I suspect it will go up again, and either it will or won’t be officially denied.
This issue further drives home the warning that you simply must be absolutely honest with your plastic surgeon, stay up to date on your own health, and abide his wishes when it come pre- and post-op care. Preparation is also key. For instance, quit smoking well in advance before your cosmetic surgery, attempt to reach a good weight before having surgery, stay active, and eat a balanced diet in your day to day life. We worry about everything under the sun but our health until something happens. You know what they say, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
