Beach judge upholds $1.95M award in plastic surgery death

VIRGINIA BEACH

A Circuit Court judge on Friday upheld a jury verdict awarding $1.95 million to the family of a woman who died after receiving plastic surgery.

On Aug. 26, a jury awarded the damages to the family of Maritess Lopez, 36, a mother of four who died within 40 hours of receiving a "mommy makeover" in July 2008.

After the decision, the attorney for defendant Dr. Matthew Galumbeck filed a motion to set aside the verdict.

Circuit Judge Edward W. Hanson Jr. denied that motion Friday, said Kenneth Wills, the attorney for Lopez's family.

"I think that the decision was correct," Wills said. "She left four children. Three of them are very young and will have many, many years without their mother."

Lopez went home after receiving a breast lift and augmentation, liposuction and a tummy tuck at Galumbeck's medical facility on July 30, 2008, even though she was having trouble breathing, Wills argued during the trial. Her daughter found her unresponsive less than two days later, and an autopsy said she died of aspiration pneumonia.

A call to Galumbeck's attorney's office was not returned Friday.