It’s not often that something good can come out of a death, particularly a death of someone young and healthy who was taken unexpectedly. So I’m really happy to hear that Donda West’s death has led to a change in law for plastic surgery, making it safer for patients.

In California, the death of Donda West, 58, in November prompted two lawmakers to push for additional patient safety protections.

A bill, AB 2968, by Assemblywoman Wilmer Amina Carter (D-Rialto) calls for a patient to receive a physical examination before undergoing cosmetic surgery.

Yolanda Anderson, West’s niece, said her aunt did not receive a physical exam by her surgeon, Dr. Jan Adams, before undergoing surgery.

A spokesman for Adams has previously said it was his understanding that both Adams and the anesthesiologist thoroughly questioned West before her surgery.

“It’s not like she was 90 or terminally ill with cancer,” Anderson said. “It was something that did not have to happen.”

Another doctor whom West had previously seen declined to operate on her, saying that she was at risk of having a heart attack if she were to undergo the cosmetic surgery.

A coroner’s report cited West’s heart disease and clogged coronary arteries as a factor in her death. According to the coroner, there was no evidence that her death was caused by a mistake in surgery.

Los Angeles Times

It seems that at this stage anyone with a medical degree can perform surgery on a patient that requests it, and because they are often performed as outpatient proceedures they do not undergo the same regulations a hospital inpatient would. How Donda West could have been sent home 5 1/2 hours after a breast reduction and tummy tuck is beyond me - a relative of mine who underwent the same proceedure in Australia was in hospital for four days recovering.

Dr Jan Adams, the doctor who performed the surgery on Donda West, was also fighting two malpractice suits at the time of her operation. One was for leaving a sponge in a patient, the other for only placing one implant in a woman wanting a pair of breast implants. The new law does not stop him from performing surgery, or having to disclose the suits to patients, while the case is still waiting for or undergoing trial.

The new law also means that doctors will be under closer supervision, such as what a heart surgeon in a regular hospital might be under. Patients will have to have a full physical exam. While Donda was an intelligent adult who should perhaps should have chosen not to have the surgery, if she sought a second opinion it is possible that she was told the surgery would be safe. Donda was not undergoing the surgery solely for cosmetic reasons, but because of back pain.

I can only hope that the West family, and other families who have suffered loss related to plastic surgery, can get some closure from Donda’s unfortunate death with this little bit of good that comes with the legislation.

Picture note by Celebitchy: Donda West and her son, Kanye, are shown at a book signing for
“Raising Kanye: Life Lessons From The Mother Of A Hip-Hop Superstar” at Waterstones bookstore in London on 6/30/07, thanks to WENN.

Poor Dr. Jan Adams. The television/publicity loving plastic surgeon complains that his business has gone down the drain since he operated on Kanye West’s mother Donda, who died at her home the next day. While her autopsy results were inconclusive, most people seem to agree that Adams bears some culpability. West consulted another plastic surgeon for her breast reduction (which was a medical necessity due to back pain) and tummy tuck. Both of the other surgeons refused to do the surgery, stating that West had to see an internist before he would consider doing the surgery since she had a condition that could cause a heart attack. However Adams was more than fine with operating on West. While Donda was obviously aware of the first surgeon’s concerns and still went ahead with surgery, Dr. Adams had a duty not to operate on her if he was aware of her condition – which a good doctor would be.

As a result of Donda West’s death, a lot of publicity was focused on Jan Adams, and it quickly came to light that he has a long history of legal problems, including charges of domestic violence, DUI arrests, tax evasion and malpractice suits. And the malpractice suits are legitimate –he once left a sponge inside a patient, and only put one breast implant in other. Last night Adams went on Larry King to complain about the way his practice has suffered as a result of all the negative publicity.

KING: Do you continue to practice?

ADAMS: Yes.

KING: How bad has your practice been affected by this publicity?

ADAMS: Horribly. It’s almost destroyed.

KING: Is that surprising to you?

ADAMS: It surprises me because I have to ask myself, when people attack you like that — I’m talking the press — you have to say, why do they fear you? Generally, people attack someone who they fear. And I’m not sure where all that came from. I do know we got bad information. The real question out there really isn’t, from where I look at, this particular patient. The real question out there is, who is this person and why is this kind of attack going on?

[From Larry King Live]

Hey Dr. Adams, I don’t think people fear you, I think they loathe you. It’s just easier to think they fear you, because that implies that you have some sort of power over everyone. People generally don’t like the idea of a DUI-getting, girlfriend-hitting, sponge-leaving doctor. So when you’re in some way connected to the death of a famous hip hop star’s mother, and then people find out you’ve got a long history of doing jackass things, they’re going to dislike you. Though the autopsy findings made it pretty hard to say Adams was directly responsible for West’s death, one would think he’d realize it’s a bad idea to go on national television and complain about how hard this has been for him. I’m guessing it’s harder for the West family. There’s a good chance Dr. Adams will lose his board certification due to his myriad legal and medical run-ins. It’s not the justice a lot of people would like, but it will hopefully keep him from operating on anyone else.

Dr. Jan West, Kanye West’s deceased mom Donda’s plastic surgeon, made history on the Larry King show last night by being the first guest to walk off in 22 years. Larry asked his executive producer Wendy Walker toward the end of the show if a guest had ever left like that, and she said “You have been on the air now, Larry, for 22 years. And I have never seen a guest walk off… The only time I ever remember anything like this happening was one time, Vice President Gore was late and we put your children on for the first segment before he could get there.”

This was surprising to me, but Larry King is such a softball interviewer you could see how people would never get pissed off at him enough to leave. Adams delayed his appearance, and came on after the first commercial break, saying that he wanted to appear on the show, but that he would respect the wishes of the West family that he not talk about the case:

ADAMS: I — what I really want to say is I want to thank you for this opportunity. Basically, I had come here to talk about things in the press that aren’t accurate about me. But I have a tremendous amount of love and respect for the West family. And they’ve asked me not to go on. And I’ve said from the very beginning, I don’t have a side in this. They are my side.

And so I’m going to respect their wishes. And I’m going to apologize to you because I think I’m taking up your air time. But I will not be on the show and I will not discuss any of that. I’m going to honor their wishes, OK?

KING: Meaning, you won’t answer any questions about anything?

ADAMS: None. None.

[From CNN Transcript]

Adams went on to say that he would talk about what happened when the West family was comfortable with it and he ripped the microphone off and walked dramatically off stage. He didn’t get emotional or anything, but he did look and sound scared. The thing is, he was expected to at least address some of the many claims leveled against him, including multiple malpractice suits, several DUIs, the 100k in back taxes he owes, and his ex wife’s allegations that he physically assaulted her. He didn’t talk about any of that though, and just got the hell out of there, claiming he was doing it for the West family.

It’s more likely that Adams kept his mouth shut, something he hasn’t been able to do up until this point, due to a faxed letter from the West’s attorney that was received by his lawyer just prior to his scheduled appearance.

Adams’ attorney, Alan Tenenbaum, was on the show and confirmed that he did receive a fax from the West’s attorney, which came in right “as he arrived at [Larry King’s] office.” He said that it involved an issue of patient privilege, which is a civil matter, not a criminal matter, and he confirmed they could be sued for violating patient confidentiality. Adams had speculated earlier to the press that Donda died from a possible painkiller overdose, a statement that clearly violates patient doctor confidentiality. The West family has not yet announced a civil suit or an intent to sue.

Larry King said that the letter also threatened to go to the California Medical Board and have Adams’ license to practice medicine taken away if he continued to speak out about Dr. West’s case.

Adams could have talked about the other claims against him without violating Dr. West’s confidentiality, but he got scared and got the hell out of there. He does have a chance to speak out about the many stories about him that have been publicized as a result of this tragic case. He gave an interview to People Magazine that will appear in their next issue.

People senior editor Galina Espinoza was on the panel of experts commenting on Adam’s bizarre behavior on the show, and said that in that interview he dismissed the cases against him as “nuisance suits.” He also said that he never became board certified, something that is recommended but not required for physicians, because he didn’t think he needed to:

ESPINOZA: The DUIs he did not talk about. He did talk about a lot of the malpractice suits, and he dismissed most of them as “nuisance suits,” with his quote. And he did actually go on to say that in at least three cases where he did agree to a default judgment against him that if he had to do it over again, he wouldn’t do it, that he was an idiot for doing so. That was his explanation…

ESPINOZA: He was not board certified and we did ask him why he wasn’t. And he said that he did in fact start the process to become board certified, but things happened in his life. He had a serious illness. He wasn’t able to complete the process.

And then he went on to say, and I’m going to read this quote to you, saying that he wasn’t bothered by the fact that he does not have this credential, saying, we have made the board a tie to a certain level of competence, which I don’t really think is true.

So clearly, he did not think it was important for him to be board certified. He thought he was perfectly qualified.

[From CNN Transcript]

This guy is going down hard and he knows it. He must have been waiting for the axe to fall for the past few years and it was incredibly irresponsible for him to continue practicing medicine and behaving like an expert on television. Watching that show, he acted and behaved like a scared guilty person, and I hope that his license is revoked and that he’s sued into the ground. It won’t bring Kanye’s mom back, but their family might have a little justice.

Dr. Donda West’s funeral was held in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma yesterday. Kanye spoke at the ceremony, saying he hoped his mom would not “rest in peace, but rest in paradise.”

Here’s the video of Jan Adams walking off Larry King, thanks to TMZ: