Good doctors used to be identified by fairly standard measures: where they trained, whether they were board-certified and if they were in good standing with the state medical board.
But the explosion of reality TV shows in the last four years has upset that paradigm -- especially in Los Angeles and especially in the ultra-competitive field of cosmetic plastic surgery. Even as shows such as "Doctor 90210," "Extreme Makeover" and "The Swan" have thrust telegenic doctors into the limelight, it remains unclear what standards networks use in selecting the physicians -- or how closely they check credentials.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Wednesday, November 21, 2007 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 50 words Type of Material: Correction
Plastic surgeon: An article in Section A on Tuesday about cosmetic surgery and TV said that Dr. Jan Adams had been a frequent guest on "Oprah." In fact, he appeared once on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and once on "Oprah: After the Show" that aired on the Oxygen cable network.
Now this uneasy partnership between medicine and reality television is getting its own reality check. On Nov. 10, Donda West, the mother of rap star Kanye West, died a day after undergoing cosmetic plastic surgery performed by Dr. Jan Adams, a celebrity doctor in Brentwood who was the host of his own Discovery Health channel show, "Plastic Surgery: Before and After."
The resulting spotlight has been a good deal harsher than the one that celebrity plastic surgeons encounter on the set. Meanwhile, their rank-and-file colleagues and the American Medical Assn. are growing worried that reality-TV doctors and the producers of the shows distort what plastic surgeons do by over-hyping the results and downplaying the pain, complications and risks associated with surgery. The shows and their celebrity doctors, they contend, mislead consumers into thinking cosmetic surgery is not much more complicated than buying a new dress.
"TV is looking for the best doctors who will show well and get ratings. They have to have looks and personality," said Dr. Valerie J. Ablaza, a board-certified plastic surgeon in Montclair, N.J. "But there are no criteria for evaluating their medical credentials. That's a big problem."
West's autopsy has not been completed but preliminary results released by the Los Angeles County coroner last week concluded that the 58-year-old former college professor and businesswoman died "as a result of surgery or anesthesia."
The Discovery Health channel did not return calls seeking comment on what criteria it uses to select physicians to host shows, but a spokesman for the network said Monday that it has decided to pull reruns of Adams' show for the immediate future.
