New York plastic surgeon’s license revoked

A Staten Island plastic surgeon with more than 40 medical malpractice lawsuits filed against him has had his license revoked. The New York State Department of Health’s Office of Professional Misconduct determined that Dr. Robert Cattani, was an “imminent danger” to the health and safety of his patients because of his record of medical negligence.

Patients who were injured by the 71-year-old doctor can be relieved that he will no longer be in a position to injure others. Recent patients include a woman who was left blind in one eye after a failed eyelid lift and a patient who had enormous scars after a neck and face lift. Another patient need corrective surgery after a post-operative infection left a woman deformed.

A man almost bled to death during a tummy tuck procedure. According to the emergency medical technicians who responded to a call, Dr. Cattani tried to stop them from transporting the 20 year old man to the hospital after he suffered renal failure during the procedure. He required nine days in the hospital and three blood transfusions. Another liposuction patient suffered an abdominal perforation that could have caused death.

A departmental report issued after a licensure hearing stated, “The committee concluded that the only way to ensure the safety of the public is to revoke [Cattani’s] medical license. Any other penalty would risk a recurrence of this behavior. The public should not bear that risk.”

The state determined that 10 of the 12 charges brought against Cattani should be sustained, including charges of gross negligence, negligence, incompetence and inaccurate record-keeping.

Cattani previously noted that over the course of his career he had performed more than 13,000 surgeries and most of them had been successful. He said, “I’m a good surgeon, really I am.”

Source: silive.com, “Video: Citing gross negligence, state Health Department revokes Staten Island plastic surgeon’s license,” Sep. 14, 2012.