§ Mr. Gordon PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many doctors have been(a) prosecuted and (b) convicted since 1984 for assault arising from carrying out a cosmetic surgical procedure for which they were unqualified or were incompetent. [30387]
§ Mr. MichaelCourt proceedings information held centrally cannot identify such cases from other offences of assault. However, anyone who attempts to perform a cosmetic procedure, but who is not competent to do so, would expose himself to the risk of civil, and possibly criminal, liability, and to the possibility of professional proceedings for misconduct.
If criminal proceedings are brought for such an offence of assault then they may be instigated under either the more general legislative powers of the Offences Against the Persons Act 1861 (OAPA61) or the Medical Act 1983, section 49—pretending to be registered by taking name or title of a medical practitioner. We are aware of one prosecution in 1996 under the latter provision.