A Ho Chi Minh City court has ordered a doctor to pay US$10,700 as compensation to a Vietnamese-American woman for a failed cosmetic breast surgery performed on her five years ago. The plaintiff in the suit is Lisa Nguyen, 45, and the defendant is Dr. Lai Cong Hiep of HCMC’s Phu Nhuan district, who was sued by Lisa for damaging her health and breast beauty. Yesterday the appeals court of the Supreme People’s Court in Ho Chi Minh City upheld the verdict previously issued by the HCMC People’s Court, in which Dr. Hiep was ordered to pay more than VND223 million ($10,700|) to Lisa as compensation. On February 15, 2008, Lisa, who had had three breast enhancement procedures in the US,  returned to Vietnam and consulted Dr. Hiep, director of the Viet-My Institute of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, for a cosmetic breast  surgery. She asked Hiep to remove two silicon bags of 360 cc from her breasts and then implant two smaller silicon bags, of 260 cc, as a replacement. Lisa and Dr. Hiep agreed for the surgery to proceed based on four mutually-agreed upon stipulations, including the one that her two nipples would not be affected by the surgery. Lisa later paid Dr. Hiep a total of $2,200 (VND35.2 million, according to the foreign exchange rate at that time), including $2,000 in surgery costs with the remaining expense serving as remuneration for his assistant in the operation.          On February 18, Dr. Hiep took the woman to Transport Hospital 8, with which  he had signed a professional cooperation contract related to the surgery, for an operation that lasted 6 hours.One nipple lost Three days after the operation, Lisa found that her right nipple had swelled up and turned black. Ten days later, after the stitches were taken out, the incision was split, exposing the silicon bags inside.  Dr. Hiep mended the incision but the problem returned several days later, with fluid oozing from the infected wound. The doctor had to perform surgery on the breasts to remove the bags and close the incision. The removal was made with a written commitment by Dr. Hiep that he would implant silicon bags into Lisa’s breasts free of charge in the future when Lisa returned to Vietnam again.  After nearly a month of treatment, Lisa was discharged on March 19, 2008, with many scars on her flattened breasts and her right nipple lost due to the infection.  As a result, Lisa suffered a permanent body injury rate of 16 percent.   Lisa demanded that Dr. Hiep pay her a compensation of $25,000, but the doctor rejected her claim. The woman then filed a suit to the city court to claim VND330 million in damages. In court, Hiep said Transport Hospital 8 had to be partly held responsible in the case, which meant that the hospital would have to pay a part of the damages to Lisa. However, the court rejected his claim, saying that, as shown in the contract between him and the hospital, he would be the sole party responsible for paying damages if he caused any damage to the patient.