Maxine Messam, the Connecticut woman who was dumped outside a Bronx hospital, died following a botched butt-enhancement procedure. Messam was left at the Jacobi Medical Center by two unidentified women.
The 53-year-who died early Tuesday morning had several needle marks on her body.
Messam Was Naked Waist Down
Messam, who stayed in Bridgeport, Connecticut, worked for the state's Department of Developmental Services.
According to police reports, Messam was left at the hospital by two unidentified women who claimed that they found her in a distressed condition at Woodlawn Cemetery.
The duo, who reportedly arrived at the hospital in the victim's BMW SUV, claimed that they "wanted to help her."
The New York Daily News reported that the search has been launched to find the two unidentified women. "The two women reportedly told hospital staff a different story that had nothing to do with butt injections," the NYPD spokesman told the outlet.
The doctors found multiple needle marks on Messam's body and said that "a foreign substance had been injected into her buttocks." The authorities have ordered an autopsy to reveal the cause of Messam's death.
People Undergoing Procedure in Secret to Avoid High Costs
Speaking to the outlet, the victim's family expressed shock over her death. "We don't know what happened. She was at work and she left work. So we don't know what happened from there," said Messam's husband.
Claiming that he wasn't aware about the details related to her mother's death, Messam's son said that the family was "really emotionally damaged at this point in time."
Speaking to CBS New York, Dr. Henry Spinelli, professor of plastic surgery and neurosurgery at Weill Cornell and New York-Presbyterian Hospital, said that he gets several people with significant complications from procedures performed by non-medical professional. "There's a risk of embolization entering large vessels and developing clots that spread to the lungs, etc., endangering one's life. It's not something I take lightly, and I would try to dissuade as much as possible," Spinelli said.
Dr Scot Glasberg, a certified plastic surgeon, told News 12 that he suspected that the injections were done illegally. Claiming that there have been cases of patients undergoing the procedure in secret to save high costs from a certified surgeon, Glasberg said, "We've heard of it, people doing it in hotels, people doing it in their garages, in their basement. Often it's not even a physician, it's people who are not medically trained."
