I’m a little late with my two cents worth on body jewelry because I
got a little behind on my reading. I had my ears pierced when I was
in my 20’s and ended up with an infection of the right one and the
enlarged lymph node is there to this day. My husband has seen a
multitude of throat infections, sinus infections, and one patient
even developed an infection in his heart from tongue piercing. In
todays litigious society and overabundance of greed, I’d stay away
from body jewelry period. It isn’t worth it. All it takes is one
lawsuit and it can wipe you out just trying to defend your self even
if you win against the plaintif. Insurance? I’d avoid the whole
thing because I think you’ve all seen the gouging and paying very
little if you use it.
You are a great bunch of people and thank you for all your good
professional advice. I need lots of help with jewelry problems but
I’m good with medical advice so I thought I’d point out that aspect
of the subject. Thank you for putting up with it.
If a jeweler makes up a piece of body jewelry to a customer’s written
specifications and sells the piece to the customer , is the jeweler
responsible if said customer has a body-piercer install it and the
customer subsequently develops an infection at the site?
And what if the already-pierced customer is simply replacing a piece
of body jewelry that has been worn for a long time with no ill
effects and develops an infection after wearing the new piece? Who is
responsible?
Unless the jeweler has the customer sign a disclaimer pointing out
the risks and absolving him/her of any responsibility, it might be a
good idea to stay away from some of the more exotic forms of body
jewelry.
If a jeweler makes up a piece of body jewelry to a customer's
written specifications and sells the piece to the customer , is the
jeweler responsible if said customer has a body-piercer install it
and the customer subsequently develops an infection at the
site?
In the highly litigious society we have here in the US, it almost
doesn’t matter whether the jeweler is responsible. Even if said
jeweler were to be found blameless in court, attorney’s fees, time
away from work, etc., would be costly enough for me to avoid making
body jewelry. The profit from making that one piece of jewelry
simply isn’t worth it to me. Then again, the original poster was
asked by a friend to make the piece. I would imagine my decision
would be somewhat tempered by how close a friend we’re talking
about. Family members have sued each other for less.
As someone who both has various body piercings as well as making
body jewellery I believe the customer should take the liability of
possible infection. The jeweller therefore must have done some
research, talked to other body jewellery makers and piercers of good
reputation and business practices so they know what their talking
about. Then they can assess if in the case of a commission whether or
not what the person wants is a good idea or not. If you have done
your research, use appropriate metals and inspect the finished piece
for excellent surface quality then advise the person to take it to a
piercing shop to be autoclaved and properly put in. This accompanied
by a waiver saying that the custom takes responsibility for proper
handling and installation, and takes responsibility for any possible
infections. Advise them that if there is any issues with the
piercing to consult a piercing professional then a doctor. (good
piercers can tell you certain thing that will help stop infections
and make the piercing better (leave the jewlery in for this so they
have more to go on), a doctor is more likely to take it out, give you
drugs and tell you that you were stupid to pierce things in the first
place.)
The bottom line with piercings is everyone reacts differently to
having foreign objects inserted into there bodies, this is why
piercer make you sign waivers and be a certain age before getting
certain things done (if there smart and reputable). The waiver will
protect you in case something happens, as you can only do so much
and you can’t ever be certain that the individual is even taking care
of the piercing properly. That and sometimes piercings reject and
migrate out the body, others are fine for years then get infected
with no percivable causes, just cover your ass with a legally
binding wavier/ contract and you should be fine.