Lidvian Zelaya, a 35-year-old woman, died Monday after undergoing liposuction and a buttocks enhancement surgery at Strax Rejuvenation and Aesthetics Institute.
Mrs Zelaya was rushed to Florida Medical Center where doctors told her husband she died from cardiac arrest.
An autopsy on Zelaya has been started at the Broward County Medical Examiner’s office, but the cause of death has not been determined, officials told The Sun Sentinel.
The operation was to be done by Dr. Roger L. Gordon, who was disciplined by the state in connection with two plastic surgery deaths in 2004.
Family representatives told The Sun Sentinel that Zelaya went to Strax to have fat suctioned from her back and belly, and to have the material injected into her backside, and that she chose Strax because she got a good deal.
Liposuction is the most dangerous of cosmetic procedures. Death rates are estimated at 1 in 5,000.
South Florida is the Plastic Surgery capital of the world. South Beach is a advertisement for tummy tucks and breast implant surgery. As the number of procedures increase so do the number of deaths. A number of these deaths are the result of Medical Malpractice
Deaths related to cosmetic surgery have been a persistent problem in Florida, dating back to the 1990s. State regulators responded by restricting the number of procedures surgeons can do at one time, by increasing training requirements, by inspecting surgery offices, by limiting the time a patient can be under anesthesia, and by mandatory reporting of deaths. However, all these safeguards have done little to curb the problem.
Many of the complications deaths result from doctors that are simply not trained to perform plastic surgery, or any type of surgery for that matter. Since these doctors are not properly skilled, they cannot perform the surgeries in a hospital. Thus the surgeries are performed in a private office setting, that simply lacks the equipment and personnel to respond in case of emergency.
Florida Medical Malpractice Lawyers have filed a number of lawsuits against Plastic Surgeons and the facilities where the surgeries are performed. However a large number of these doctors and facilities do not carry Medical Malpractice Insurance
Mark Kaire has been practicing law in Miami for nearly 30 years. He is dedicated to helping the injured people of Miami receive compensation. Mr. Kaire has been blogging on Miami’s legal issues for many years.