A Venezuelan woman died after she had a liposuction procedure at a clinic located in a mall in the Venezuelan city of Cumana. The incident happened on Saturday night after Ana Rosa Mavarez Rivero, 31, showed up at a clinic in the Marina Plaza Shopping Center in her hometown of Cumaná (Sucre), according to Ultimas Noticias.
According to local media reports, Rivero suddenly fell ill after undergoing the minimally invasive operation on Saturday evening. Rivero, a mother of an 11-year-old son and an 8-year-old girl, was immediately transported to a nearby hospital where she was pronounced dead early on Sunday.
Simple Surgery Gone Wrong
According to Jam Press, Rivero had undergone a laser liposuction treatment, also known as a lipo laser, in which doctors use a laser to remove fat, reshape the body, and reduce cellulite. The process is typically seen as less invasive and traumatic than the traditional treatment.
This, however, rapidly turned out to be the exception when the family called emergency services at around 10 pm after the mother of two became ill with breathing issues.
Dr. Alexander Larrochelle, who reportedly performed surgery on Mavarez, was arrested by authorities after he went to the neighborhood police station on Sunday to provide a statement.
Larrochelle will be held for up to 45 days while the investigators review their findings. Rivero had a lipolaser procedure, according to her mother Petra Rivero, who spoke to news outlet El Pitazo.
Rivero's condition worsened after Larrochelle tightened loose skin and destroyed fat cells with a laser.
Petro claimed that despite her daughter complaining of excruciating agony, no medication was administered to ease the pain. She said that Rivero had also had her own lipo pump at the facility in order to reduce the swelling, but one of the nurses refused to use it.
Negligence in Treatment
Rivero started convulsing at 10 pm. Yet, by 2:45 a.m., they were still awaiting an emergency truck since the hospital was running out on oxygen. In footage portraying the terrifying situation, a family member says, "I'm filming in Cumaná and we can't get an ambulance. Ven911 doesn't have oxygen so we can't get out of here."
After making it to the hospital, Rivero was admitted without vital signs, according to local media.
According to Pitazo, the staff at the hospital and Dr. Larrochelle tried to trick the family into believing that their daughter was still alive despite the fact that the death certificate listed her daughter's time of death as 11 pm.
The family looked all across Cumaná for an ambulance to get Rivero to another hospital, but they were unable to do so because none of them had oxygen tanks. At 4:30 am, Rivero was finally moved to a clinic. Doctors admitted her to the hospital without vital signs and she was pronounced dead at 4:30 am.
"I am going to fight for my daughter, because she was not an animal. And just as it happened to my daughter, it has happened to many," the grieving mother said. "And it's going to keep happening if they don't retaliate with that bum. That's a butcher shop they have there."
Rivero is not the first person to die as a result of a botched liposuction treatment. In January last year, a mother of two died following a botched fat-trimming surgery in Spain that cost $6,500, and allegedly left her with "injuries like she'd been in a knife fight."
