Practice advisory on liposuction.

COMMITTEE STATEMENT: At the 69th annual meeting of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) in October of 2000, the ASPS Board of Directors convened the Task Force on Patient Safety in Office-Based Surgery Facilities. The task force was assembled in the wake of several highly publicized patient deaths involving plastic surgery and increasing state legislative and regulatory activity of office-based surgery facilities. In response to the increased scrutiny of the office-based surgery setting, the task force produced two practice advisories: "Procedures in the Office-Based Surgery Setting" and "Patient Selection in the Office-Based Surgery Setting." Since the task force's inception, professional and public awareness of patient safety issues has continued to grow. This heightened interest resulted in an increased need for plastic surgeons to communicate their views on the topic. To meet this challenge, the task force evolved into the Committee on Patient Safety, allowing the committee to address topics affecting the safety and welfare of plastic surgery patients, regardless of the facility setting. The "Practice Advisory on Liposuction" is the first advisory developed since the committee was formed. It was a lengthy and painstaking process for the committee, which included representatives from related plastic surgery organizations as well as the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA). Committee members included Ronald E. Iverson, M.D., chair; Jeffery L. Apfelbaum, M.D., ASA representative; Bruce L. Cunningham, M.D., ASPS/Plastic Surgery Educational Foundation (PSEF) Joint Outcomes Task Force representative; Richard A. D'Amico, M.D., ASPS representative; Victor L. Lewis, Jr., M.D., ASPS Health Policy Analysis Committee representative; Dennis J. Lynch, M.D., ASPS representative; Noel B. McDevitt, M.D., ASPS Deep Vein Thrombosis Task Force representative; Michael F. McGuire, M.D., The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS) representative; Louis Morales, Jr., M.D., American Society of Maxillofacial Surgeons representative; Calvin R. Peters, M.D., Florida Ad Hoc Commission on Patient Safety representative; Robert Singer, M.D., American Association for Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgery Facilities representative; Thomas Ray Stevenson, M.D., American College of Surgeons representative; Rebecca S. Twersky, M.D., ASA representative; Ronald H. Wender, M.D., ASA representative; and James A. Yates, ASAPS representative. The authors thank members of the committee for the insights they brought to this process. The final document represents their significant contributions to these efforts. They would also like to recognize DeLaine Schmitz and Pat Farrell of the ASPS staff for their work on and support of this project.