Story By: Ana Lacasa, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: CEN
This mum has suddenly died after travelling from the US to Colombia for a lipo op to lose weight.
Sandra Ines Melo died after flying from the United States to her native Colombia and undergoing lipectomy and liposculpture in the capital Bogota.
The 45-year-old mother underwent the surgery at the Clinica Colombiana de Especialistas clinic and her family lawyer Daniela Campos says that she was in the operating theatre for hours.
Pictures Credit: CEN
Campos said: “Hours passed and Sandra’s cousin asked about her condition. She was told that she was fine, and to go back the day after. At around midnight, they called her cousin and said that the woman was in a poor condition and that she had to be sent to hospital.”
The mum was transferred to the San Francisco de Asis clinic, who have an agreement with the Clinica Colombiana de Especialistas, accompanied by an anaesthesiologist.
Local media report she was suffering from brain death and was kept in the hospital for five days before she died.
Campos said that there is no detailed file of what happened during the procedure and complained that the victim’s family were not called until midnight.
The Department of Legal Medicine are yet to complete the report on the causes of the Melo’s death.
However, Angela Suarez, the clinic’s lawyer, told local media that the surgery had been successful and that the complication took place post-surgery when the patient was unable to wake up from the anaesthetic.
She said: “She was given medication to help her to get through this part, she started to respond but then she fell unconscious. That was when she was transferred by ambulance and accompanied by the treating anaesthesiologist.”
The lawyer said the clinic has all the necessary licences and regulations and claimed the victim had not been sincere, telling doctors she was from the city of Florencia in the south-western Colombian department of Caqueta without mentioning the fact she had travelled from the United States where she had been living for four years.
She added: “We do not understand why this woman gave us fake information. What is clear is that as a clinic we have carried out all the protocols requested, looking after the integrity of our patients. We do not have anything to hide.”
Mauro Godoy, the son of the victim, whose age has not been reported, said: “My mum came with the intention of undergoing plastic surgery and went to a centre where, as they saw she had a good economic situation, they gave her the tests and sped up the process.”
Local media reported that the District Secretary of Health has received 320 complaints about aesthetic procedures allegedly incorrectly carried out by the health services of Bogota, with 85 suspensions, between 2017 and May 2019.
Those sanctions are linked with not following the sanitary rules, working without a licence or surgeons without accreditation, among other infractions.
The investigation is ongoing.
Liposculpture is a derivative of liposuction. They are often used interchangeably but liposuction strictly refers to the removal of fat cells from a certain area while liposculpture focuses on removing fat in areas to sculpt the body.
Lipectomy refers to any surgical procedure carried out to remove unwanted body fat, usually by suction.
