I'm Rejuvenated

When not blogging (or otherwise playing around), I am a health care attorney -- basically a business lawyer for doctors. An issue of great concern to many of my clients is the fact that, with declining reimbursements, physicians and other health care providers find that they are often working more hours, but earning less. For some, to compensate for this loss in income there is the continual quest to look for new ways to augment their revenues. The Washington Post, in Cosmetic Surgery's New Frontier, discusses one such augmentation:

Christopher A. Warner says he considers himself something of a maverick, a caring physician willing to challenge medical orthodoxy in order to help women.

That's why the 39-year-old board-certified obstetrician-gynecologist recently opened the Laser Vaginal Rejuvenation Institute of Washington in a red brick townhouse off Washington Circle. There, he is building a business as the first area physician to perform controversial procedures that use a laser to enhance sexual gratification by repairing tissue damaged by childbirth, to give women a "youthful aesthetic look" or to make those who are not appear to be virgins.

Via Shaun Mullen at Kiko's House, who observed in his post Is This a Great Country or What?, he aptly decides:

I would vote for "or what" after reading that a board-certified obstetrician-gynecologist apparently cares so much about his patients that he has opened the Laser Vaginal Rejuvenation Institute of Washington.

Picture that: Vaginal Rejuvenation. If you need imagery assistance, see, Feministing, Nothing says “empowered” like a trimmed labia, who also notes:

But perhaps the most vile aspect of this surgery is how doctors are appropriating feminist language to make the case for cutting up women. A press release from The Laser Vaginal Rejuvenation Institute of New York shouts, “Women Now Have Equal Sexuality Rights.” One of the doctors mentioned in the article, David Matlock (who we’ve also posted about before), calls one of his surgery packages the “Wonder Woman Makeover.” It includes “several vaginal procedures, breast implants and a breast lift, abdominal liposuction and a ‘Brazilian butt augmentation.’” Lovely.

The other aspect of this is that doctors who promote these types of procedures contribute to the perception that physicians are greedy -- and are more interested in making money than caring for their patients. Sort of like the conversation yesterday at lunch, when one of my colleagues mentioned that one of her clients had been hospitalized after an attempted suicide. Looking concerned, another member of the LWL* gang asked: "Did he pay his bill?" After we all booed the person for such a callous remark, the colleague said "Trust me, I have a retainer." It's why we're beloved. Doctors are just playing catch-up.

Of course, this whole topic also reminds me of a remark by Jon Stewart during his Daily Show skit on an American Legion speech by Bush. During Bush's intro, he compares the President of the American Legion Auxiliary to his mother, remarking that they get their hair done at the same place. Stewart quips: “How does the president know that woman has a Brazilian?” See The Largest Minority for the video.

* Ladies Who Lunch (a/k/a my office mates).

Tags: News