The Virginian-Pilot
©
VIRGINIA BEACH
A Circuit Court jury awarded $1.95 million in damages Thursday to the family of a woman who died within 40 hours of receiving a "mommy makeover" operation.
Circuit Judge Edward W. Hanson Jr. reserved entering the judgment, however, allowing both sides to file motions, including one to set aside the verdict, defense attorney Edward McNelis said.
Dr. Matthew Galumbeck and his staff allowed Maritess Lopez to go home an hour after her cosmetic surgery July 30, 2008, even though she was having problems breathing, the family's attorney, Kenneth Wills, argued.
The 36-year-old homemaker had gotten a breast lift and augmentation, liposuction, and a tummy tuck because she wanted to make herself more attractive after having four children, Wills said.
But in addition to breathing problems, Lopez experienced dizziness, fever, and problems moving and concentrating after she left Galumbeck's surgery center, Wills told jurors.
In his closing, Wills said that Lopez's sister, Carmelita Hale, testified that she called a nurse about her sister's symptoms the next day, but the office did not follow up.
That evening, Lopez's daughter found her mother unresponsive in her bed.
The autopsy showed she died of aspiration pneumonia, which occurred after the contents of her stomach went up her esophagus and down her trachea into her lungs, Wills said in a phone interview.
McNelis said in his closing argument that the medical condition that killed Lopez happened very shortly before her death.
Galumbeck testified that Lopez had no complications during surgery. He said he checked Lopez's medical records before she left the recovery room and asked her how she was doing, and saw no signs of distress.
"We can keep patients overnight if we need to and if they're sick we send them to the hospital," he testified.
McNelis said in his closing that experts had said Galumbeck did not violate the standards of care.
Wills contended Lopez was "whisked out the door."
"What matters in this case is this lady had plastic surgery, she was ignored and she died."
The jury awarded the amount the family asked for - the maximum allowable, Wills said.
Jen McCaffery, (757) 222-5119, jen.mccaffery@pilotonline.com
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No one said that she deserved to die
The clear fact is, if she had not choosen to risk her life having the "Mommy Makeover" her four children would still have their "Mommy"; regardless of the care she did or did not recieve. Anyone who chooses to go through that much surgery must have known the risk and the worse risk
being the end result, dealth.
Missing the point people
If this woman had not been so vein she would be alive today. Sorry but that is the truth, love your kids more than yourself. I feel so sorry for the four children who have to live the rest of their lives knowing they lost their mom to a "Mommy Makeover"
People; surgery is for those who need it not want it; take your life more seriously.
It's okay to love yourself and...
BTW...it's vain. And regardless of this unfortunate woman's motivation, she did not deserve to die because a nurse and doctor don't have time to address the issue at hand. Whether she did it as a medical necessity or because she needed to feel better about herself, she clearly should have been afforded better medical care afterwards.
It is also unfortunate that Dr. Galumbeck does not have to report all of the lawsuits filed against him to the Board of Medicine. He reports only those that are paid...doesn't paint the true picture of who he is as a physician.
Does this mean that we're now going to have to read....
Does this mean that we're now going to have to read a parade of comments by competing cosmetic surgeons (who wouldn't have done anything differently under the same circumstances)self-promoting under pseudonyms?
Dr. G's radio career is probably over
Dr. G's radio career is over I would assume.........WNIS will have to find another surgeon to talk about surgeries
My plastic surgeon
Dr. Lopes, called me directly next morning after I had upper and lower eyelid surgery. Thank you.
Procedure follow up
My dentist, Dr. Bruce Barr, performed a procedure on a Friday afternoon and then HE not the assistant surprised me with a follow up phone call Saturday morning...Best to you...one of your favorite patients...
Dr Barr
Dr. Barr is the best and until just now, I thought he only called me!
Resist the Pressure to Combine Major Elective Operations
When major surgical procedures are combined, the complication rate increases, not in an arithmetic fashion, but instead in as a logarithmic function. The longer the anesthesia time, the more tissue planes opened, the more blood loss, then the greater the chance for a major, life threatening complication. KISS. Keep it simple stupid! Despite patient pressures, it is better to stage major operative procedures.
Fat emboli after liposuction, which presents as fever and shortness of breath, is a complication well known to plastic surgeons that do liposuction. I submit that it was fat emboli, not aspiration pneumonia that was the major event in this patient’s death. The aspiration pneumonia may have been the terminal event in her case.
The real problem
The real problem in my opinion, is the length of time patients are being monitored after these procedures. In the effort to avoid the costs associated with overnight stays, physicians are pushing these patients out the door well before potential complications even have a chance to develop. This patient may very well have shown no signs of distress when the physician saw her immediately after surgery, but her issues obviously began a few hours later. Had this surgery been performed as an inpatient hospital procedure and she was kept at least 24 hours, her symptoms would most likely have been caught and her death prevented.