A 31-year-old business woman died after she underwent a hydrolipo procedure – a form of liposuction – at a clinic in the southeastern Brazilian state of São Paulo on Tuesday.
Paloma Alves had difficulty breathing after the procedure and went into cardiac arrest at Maná Day, a beauty clinic located in São Paulo, the state capital.
Alves was rushed by paramedics to Dr. Cármino Caricchio Municipal Hospital and died in the emergency room while doctors were attempting to save her life.
According to Brazilian news outlet G1, Alves’ husband, Everton Silveira, said that she hired the services of Dr. Josias dos Santos through social media and wired him 10,000 Brazilian reais (close to $1,700) money that she had been saving for two years.
The couple left their home in the town of Vargem Grande Paulista around 5 am for the appointment that was schedule for 9 am.
Silveira said that the staff did not permit him to see Alves after the procedure was completed.
‘I realized that something was strange by the expressions on the employees’ faces, so I opened the door to the room where she would be, but she was no longer there,’ Silveira.
Silveira made his way to the lobby area, where he noticed a doctor was performing chest compressions on Alves.
Paloma Alves underwent a hydrolipo procedure and died after going into cardiac arrest in São Paulo, Brazil on Tuesday. Her husband told Brazilian news outlet G1 that she had contracted the services of the doctor via social media and met him in person for the first time before the procedure
Dr. Josias dos Santos told Brazil’s TV Globo that his patient, Paloma Alves, has difficulty breathing when she was in the recovery room after undergoing a hydrolipo procedure on Tuesday. The network found that dos Santos has been sued 21 times by patients who have accused him of malpractice
Alves was resuscitated and went into cardiac arrest as the ambulance was approaching the hospital.
The São Paulo Municipal Health Department said in a statement that Maná Day did not have a license to provide health services.
‘No Health License was identified with the municipal health surveillance or even a request for health licensing filed. It was fined and closed for carrying out irregular activity,’ it said.
Dos Santos told TV Globo that Alves had a shortness of breath within minutes after she was transferred to the recovery room.
‘The patient’s respiratory distress worsened and she became unconscious, but it only took a few seconds,’ dos Santos said.
‘We started performing cardiac massage. We started ventilating her with an oxygen mask. When you suffer from a lack of oxygen, you would expect that these maneuvers would help you recover quickly. That didn’t happen.’
Paloma Alves went into cardiac arrest after having a hydrolipo procedure at a clinic in Brazil and then had went into cardiac arrest as she was being rushed to a local hospital, where she died in the emergency room while doctors were trying to save her life
The São Paulo Municipal Health Department found that Maná Day clinic was not licensed to provide health services
The network found that other patients had accused him 21 times in the past of medical malpractice.
In 2021, a court ordered Dr. Dos Santos to pay a patient 50,000 reais, about $8,400, after a patient underwent an abdominoplasty and a liposculpture in December 2017.
The patient had death of body tissue and lost her belly button.
However, his lawyer, Lairon Joe, revealed that the cases had been dismissed by courts.
‘Dr. Josias has no criminal conviction for medical malpractice,’ Joe said. ‘And all the cases, the police investigations that were opened, have all been dismissed. So, we will provide the necessary clarifications.’
A hydrolipo in an alternative to liposuction that requires a local anesthesia and can last between an hour to two and a half hours.
Paloma Alves’ husband revealed she spent two years saving close to $1,700 to cover the cost of her hydrolipo procedure
In the the procedure, the doctor would inject saline solution with adrenaline and local anesthetic to the area to decrease fat and cellulite and add shape.
Patients opt for it because it’s considered to be effective and not invasive.
‘It was conceived that hydrolipo would be this liposuction, injecting anesthetic, saline solution and adrenaline made with anesthesia, in the doctor’s office and with the patient awake,’ Dr. Wendell Ugueto told Brazilian news outlet G1 in a 2021 interview.
‘Since I have an anesthetic restriction, I can only perform (the procedure) in a few areas,’ Ugueto explained. ‘It is a surgery that can be a little uncomfortable for the patient. Conventional liposuction, on the other hand, is performed in a hospital environment, and the patient is asleep. It is completely comfortable for the patient and we, as surgeons, can remove much more volume.’
The Civil Police’s 52nd Police Precinct in São Paulo is investigating the incident.
Alves’ death comes almost eight weeks after 24-year-old Viviane Monte died after undergoing six plastic surgeries at a medical facility in the northeastern Brazilian city of Sobral.
Her boyfriend of six years, Renan Santiago, told Brazilian news outlet G1 that she paid approximately $7,300 for a breast reduction, buttock fat grafting, and liposuctions on her stomach, arms, back and neck.
The businessman had the procedures on August 31 and spent 20 days in the intensive care unit at before she passed away last September 26.
Hotel owner Fábia Portilho underwent a mammoplasty and a liposuction at a hospital in the central municipality of Goiânia on May 4.
The 52-year-old was discharged the day after the procedures and was rushed back to the medical facility May 7 and died several hours later.
