Chirurgia estetica e malattia non indennizzabile: aspetti medico-legali

Abstract

[Plastic surgery and work indemnity: medical and legal aspects]

Plastic surgery procedures are growing in recent years. Given the often intrusive and complicated nature of such operations, patients who underwent these operations are often unable to return to work and will have a period of sickness absence. This article examines the cases in which employees can take a job-protected leave after surgical operations. The general rule, established by INPS, is that these surgical procedures can be paid only if there had a therapeutic aim. In all the other cases, which are more common, no legitimate job-protected leave can be taken by the employee. Conditions for which plastic surgery is usually administered are not "serious health conditions" unless inpatient hospital care is required or unless complications develop. In particular, the author examines the most popular interventions, such as mammoplasty (breast augmentation, breast reduction, and mastopexy), rhinoplasty, and abdominoplasty, specifying, for each procedure, when it can be considered as a therapeutic procedure and when it can’t.