- Dr Pieter Jooste was struck off while already suspended in 2014 for carrying out unsafe ‘smart’ liposuction procedures
- But Jooste continues to offer liposuction under his supervision and trains doctors in the same procedure
- He also teaches beauticians and medical professionals how to carry out non-surgical facelifts and use dermal fillers and Botox.
Doctors who have been struck off are using their medical titles and potentially endangering patients by carrying out cosmetic procedures, a Mail on Sunday investigation reveals.
One doctor was not only administering laser-assisted liposuction after being banned as a ‘risk to patients’ but is even now training medical professionals in the same procedure.
This newspaper also uncovered how a nurse who had been struck off after being given a jail sentence for fraud is back in business, illegally administering Botox.
The revelations come as the number of complaints over botched treatments has surged, with taxpayers having to pick up a vast bill for corrective treatment on the NHS. Last night, experts called for a tighter system to monitor ‘rogue’ doctors and nurses – and compared the struck-off medics to drivers who have been banned after drink-driving but who then get back behind the wheel.
Dr Pieter Jooste was struck off while already suspended in 2014 for carrying out unsafe ‘smart’ liposuction procedures, including in the homes of patients, as well as for other offences. The General Medical Council concluded he was a ‘risk to patients’.
But Jooste continues to offer liposuction under his supervision and trains doctors in the same procedure. He also teaches beauticians and medical professionals how to carry out non-surgical facelifts and use dermal fillers and Botox.
Consent to treatment forms seen by the MoS show that he has been accompanying his procedures with local anaesthetic, antibiotics and drugs used to treat epilepsy. These documents were being sent to prospective patients in 2016, two years after he was struck off.
When our undercover reporter contacted Jooste to request liposuction, he told her that he had ‘an injured hand’, so he could not perform the procedure himself. However, he later suggested that the reporter could be a ‘model’ for his pupils to ‘practise’ on.
When asked how he obtained prescription drugs without a licence, he replied:
‘Almost anyone can buy antibiotics and other medicines online. But I work with a registered nurse and doctor who can [get me medication] if I do not buy it from other sources. Most of these products are about five years old – I still have some lidocaine left that I got from a wholesaler in Kent.’
He denied any wrongdoing, claiming: ‘You don’t need to be registered with the GMC to be a doctor.’
The Mail on Sunday also found a struck-off NHS nurse illegally administering Botox without prescriptions.
Cheryl Henwood was handed a 12-month jail sentence in 2013 having swindled taxpayers out of £92,000 in benefits over seven years.
She lavished the money on family holidays. She was struck off the Nursing and Midwifery Council register last year after the panel concluded:
‘Members of the public would be appalled to find that a registered nurse would behave in such a way.’
When our undercover reporter visited Ms Henwood’s salon in Birkenhead as a prospective patient, she was offered Botox without a face- to-face consultation.
Asked whether she was a nurse, Ms Henwood replied: ‘Yeah, yeah, don’t worry.’
Last night, Ms Henwood declined to comment. Dr Shreedhar Vaidya was banned from practising in 2008. But despite being struck off for gross misconduct, he is illegally prescribing thousands of prescriptions for Botox over the phone. He admitted to handing out Botox prescriptions without seeing patients in person.
‘I’ve got 4,200 clients among my 80 injectors,’ he told the BBC3 programme Ellie Undercover. ‘Why do you need a doctor to see the client’s face?’ He added: ‘I got lazy and want to do less and make more money.’
Dr Vaidya denies all wrongdoing.
Leading cosmetic surgeon Rajiv Grover said: ‘You can compare them to someone who has killed while drink-driving but is back behind the wheel, despite being banned.’
Ashton Collins, director of Save Face, a Government-approved register of cosmetic treatment practitioners, said: ‘It’s a growing trend for people who have been deemed unfit to practise to enter the cosmetic sector.’
- For further information and to find a safe, reputable practitioner, go to www.saveface.co.uk
- Click here to read the article.
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