When a cosmetic surgery chain arrived, lawsuits alleging shoddy care followed

Doctors with troubled pasts are performing complicated cosmetic surgery procedures tied to crippling pain and injury, patients allege.

Not long after California surgeon Andrew S. Hsu landed a job with a cosmetic surgery chain in Georgia, several of his patients alleged they suffered disfiguring injuries, and even his new employer allegedly had doubts about his competence, court records show.

Hsu, a board-certified general surgeon, was one of six out-of-state doctors who joined the Atlanta Goals Aesthetics & Plastic Surgery center during the pandemic. The surgeons received temporary licenses to practice in Georgia, which state officials granted in response to the sudden need for more medical personnel to address the Covid outbreak — even though the center specialized in elective cosmetic surgeries, such as Brazilian butt lifts, or BBLs, and liposuction, paid for in cash or on credit.

The Atlanta center announced its opening in March 2021 as an expansion of New York-based Goals Aesthetics & Plastic Surgery, which markets “precision body contouring” for about a dozen surgery clinics in eight states, promising patients a “dream body in just one visit.”

But the Atlanta center’s early days were marred by allegations of substandard patient care. Court records show that at least 20 women filed medical malpractice lawsuits, several of which were later dismissed, against the facility, or its owner and surgeons. Hsu was named as a defendant in seven suits filed against the Atlanta center, more than any other physician there. An eighth patient sued Hsu alleging negligence in an operation he performed at a Goals office in New York.

Hsu did not respond to requests for comment. Goals declined to comment. Both have denied any negligence in response to the lawsuits.