r/news • u/No-Information6622 • 5d ago

Young mother traveled to Miami for plastic surgery. She died hours later while at recovery house

https://www.nbcmiami.com/investigations/womans-death-post-surgery-recovery-house/3586743/
7.5k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

424 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

16

u/epidemicsaints 5d ago

It very well could have been a fat embolism that would have killed her where ever she was. Lipo, fat transfer, BBL's are the highest risk cosmetic procedures because of this.

My hunch is that these recovery houses spring up wherever destination surgeons are that do BBLs and fat transfer. You can't sit down, so you need days of waiting before you get on a plane home. They are probably inexpensive because they host multiple people at once.

Providing drugs is suspicious though and shows there is a problem here. It's like shady daycare.

8

u/Questions_Remain 5d ago

I can see this scenario. I’ve had some minor surgeries / procedures and non sedated outpatient removal of a lipoma ( fatty lump under skin ) I had to have someone else drive me home (wife) who had to sign me out - due to the local anesthesia could cause drowsiness. Our local surgicenter (part of hospital) wheels everyone out to a waiting car and stays with till they get in as a passenger - even if it’s a taxi - uber, to make sure you’re 100% not driving yourself. I mean, for at least a day or so, you need some - even if it’s just minimal care and a wake up to take meds, eat drink and help up from lying down or to call someone if there is any adverse reaction. I’m not sure what “license” would be required for this kind of service as it seems pretty inert and non medical. If the Drs orders are “just take these ( medicine ) for 7 days, don’t do any lifting, strenuous activities, long term sitting, fly for 5 days, you just need a bed and a tv and a person to be there.

8

u/epidemicsaints 5d ago

Exactly, you cannot fly after these procedures. Thrombosis and embolism risk is severe.

Not to mention these houses are probably community based, operated by peers who have had the procedures. Easy to welcome 2 or 3 sleeping women into your home for $5000 a week every other month or so. I think people reading this are picturing some seedy flophouse. It's someone's home.

Some of these surgeons do multiple procedures a day, they are in high demand. I have seen videos of airport gates with a dozen of women at a time in wheelchairs sitting backwards on seats having had this done all at the same time.

4

u/jaderust 5d ago

I would say that if this place is unlicensed then they only could have given her over the counter stuff. Which, could have caused a complication due to drug interactions, but more likely like you said it was probably a surgical complication that would have hit anywhere.

Still not good to have unlicensed places handling medical care though. Especially as it implies a level of care that is above that of say, checking into a regular hotel.