Physician, heal thy colleague.

Physician, heal thy colleague

Ever think one of the benefits of being a physician would beperfect health care for yourself? Think again. According to a survey of more than 1,400 plastic surgeons by I. Kelman Cohen of the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond, 32 percent of the surgeons who had had aesthetic surgery -- face lifts, nose jobs, hair transplants and the like -- said they had complications following surgery. When they operated on their own family members, which roughly 40 percent of them did, the surgeons reported a complication rate of only 3 percent. The problems were along the lines of minor bruising or asymmetry.

"The data point out something we'd like to study," Cohensays. "Does the VIP syndrome adversely affect care? Maybe doctors do not get as good care as lay people." Other possibilities, Cohen says, are that the surgeons' families were less likely than the surgeons themselves to complain, or the surgeons were less likely to report the complaints of others.

Cohen plans to study general surgeons to see if they, too,report more medical problems. A plastic surgeon himself, he presented his findings at the recent meeting of the American Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgey in Los Angeles.