edgy body art + the hippocratic oath

Wired has some coverage of Shannon Larratt’s edgy body mod implants. I’ll agree with the surgeon interviewed that the people doing these mods should definitely not be playing with what they’re playing with.

But here’s the question for all of you. If we as a society are totally down with plastic surgery to look younger, breast implants, ass implants and even pectoral implants for guys, why isn’t any arbitrary artistic expression in plastic surgery valid. The surgeon Dr. Phil Haeck says

This is ritualistic scarification in a different form. I can’t imagine (a doctor) wanting to become involved in this area. This is a deviation in surgery that has no place for someone that has taken the Hippocratic Oath and wants to serve mankind.

That smacks of obvious contradiction and even prejudice…