In August this year, Kathryn Booth from Maurice Blackburn acted for the partner of Lauren James, who died three days after receiving liposuction in 2007.

Following the liposuction surgery, which she received at the Centre of Cosmetic and Plastic Surgery (COCAPS) in Caulfield North, Victoria, James suffered from severe pain and bleeding. After an investigation, the Coroner found that the doctors and surgeons at the clinic failed to appreciate that James was showing signs of post-operative complications which required examination rather than just further pain relief.

"[The] findings by Coroner Spanos support our arguments that the Centre of Cosmetic and Plastic Surgery's post operative management of Lauren was inadequate and that in the hours before Lauren's death there was a wholly inadequate clinical response by Dr Tam Dieu," said Booth. "Lauren developed complications after the surgery. Her partner Simon Dal Zotto was caring for her at home and repeatedly asked for help. When doctors became aware that Lauren's condition was deteriorating, she should have been admitted to hospital. This was a preventable death in a healthy young woman."

Booth said cosmetic procedures should not be undertaken lightly and warned that all cosmetic surgery, however small, carries a risk. "There should be stronger government regulation of the cosmetic surgery industry so that patients are put first," she said.

Booth is acting for Dal Zotto in a civil law suit, against COCAPS and the doctors involved in James' care, for the injury, loss and damage suffered by Dal Zotto after James' death.

"The past three years have been the most painful time in my life," Dal Zotto said earlier this month. "Every day I think of Lauren and what could have been ... What I want people to realise is that cosmetic surgery is not as simple as it looks on TV or in the glossy magazines. You have to be aware of the risks."

>> Related article: Practice profile: Working in a medical minefield