It was reported in April that a GP who helped a patient use $18,500 of her superannuation to fund liposuction by claiming it was for life-threatening obesity has been suspended for three months.
Following an influx of nearly 100 complaints, both the ATO and Ahpra have stepped up investigations into practitioners who use misleading tactics or promote early super access for unnecessary or overpriced cosmetic surgeries.
Superannuation can only be accessed early for compassionate grounds (like funding medical treatments) if the procedure is medically necessary to treat a severe or life-threatening condition and is not available through the public system. Purely cosmetic procedures like liposuction generally do not meet this threshold.
The issues here are somewhat complex. Patients seeking cosmetic procedures can be genuinely very distressed by their current appearance, to the point where that distress causes major psychological disturbances and disruption to daily activities, work and social interaction.
However, it is also possible for an underlying psychological condition – body dysmorphia – to be the ultimate cause of this distress, out of proportion to the patient’s actual physical appearance. Which comes first – the chicken or the egg?
There is also a very important financial consideration: superannuation funds accrue compounding interest over decades. Withdrawing (say) $10,000 now can reduce one’s superannuation balance at retirement by many multiples of this figure, even accounting for inflation. The financial impact of this reduced payout is likely to greatly overwhelm any temporary improvement in well-being obtained following the surgery.
I myself have fielded many requests to fill in the “compassionate release of superannuation” form by patients seeking to fund a proposed cosmetic procedure. I always politely decline these requests, explaining that from a legal perspective I would be committing fraud. I am yet to encounter a situation where inability to access the funding needed for a cosmetic procedure could constitute a “life-threatening illness”.
As a (primarily) cosmetic proceduralist doctor, I sympathise with the deep distress patients may feel about their appearance. However, I need always to be mindful of the need to balance all of my patients’ best interests: psychological, physical and – not least – financial.
Further reading: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-04-14/doctor-suspended-superannuation-release-for-lipsuction/106562598