The head of a private clinic in Majorca has been detained in connection with the death of a British woman during a £6,000 breast augmentation surgery.
Officers apprehended the 69-year-old, who reportedly violated a ban on participating in the procedure as an anaesthetist, on suspicion of the equivalent of gross negligence manslaughter. Spanish The woman died at a hospital in the island capital Palma due to complications linked to the cosmetic surgery at the unnamed private clinic.
A second man described as a ‘helper’ and said to have played a less active role in the surgery is also under investigation, although he has not been formally arrested.
The main surgeon who conducted the operation passed away late last year in Switzerland after an illness and no further action can be taken against him.
The British patient, who was in her early thirties, died on September 13 last year following the operation two weeks earlier.
A spokesperson for the National Police in Majorca, which made the arrest, confirmed this morning: ‘National Police officers have arrested a 69-year-old man responsible for managing a clinic in Palma where he also worked as a practitioner, for crimes of gross negligence manslaughter and breaching a medical ban following the death of a patient.
‘A young woman of British origin underwent cosmetic surgery at a clinic in Palma.
‘During the operation and for reasons which are still being investigated, the victim went into cardiac arrest and had to be transferred urgently to Son Espases University Hospital.
‘After being admitted to intensive care for almost two weeks, she died on September 13 last year as a result of the serious injuries she suffered during her cardiac arrest.’
Stating the family had filed a complaint for mala praxis against the health professionals involved, the National Police in Majorca added in a statement: ‘Our homicide unit began an investigation and after gathering together all the documentation related to the medical intervention and taking statements from health professionals, arrested the director of the clinic who was also a medical practitioner.
‘Investigators have accused one of the other two health professionals who participated in the surgery of the same type of manslaughter crime as the clinic director.
‘The other man cannot be accused of any crime due to his sudden death two months after the surgery.’
The force said it had detected several irregularities during its investigation.
It added: ‘One involved the victim asking the health professionals to perform a second cosmetic procedure as she went into the operating theatre, something they agreed to do without informing the patient properly of the risks.
‘It was when they were preparing to perform that second surgery that the victim went into cardiac arrest.
‘Another irregularity detected was that the patient signed consent forms for the scheduled surgery on the morning of the operation and they were written in Spanish when the British woman, according to her family, did not know how to read Spanish.’
The National Police spokesman confirmed that the arrest took place in prison. He stated that the person who was arrested was already in prison for another issue related to his profession.
The police had to request his release from prison so that he could be informed of the new charge before being returned to jail afterwards.
Despite being banned from practicing medicine and holding positions of responsibility in health centers, he still took part in the surgery that the deceased woman underwent.
Reliable sources confirmed the reports that the British woman faced complications after going to Majorca for breast implant replacement surgery.
Before the recent arrests came to light, reports from last year indicated that she paid £6,000 for a breast operation.
Ultima Hora, a newspaper in Majorca, reported last December, when it emerged that a court in Palma was investigating the British woman's death, that she had a congenital heart defect that caused 25% of her heart to function improperly.
At the time, the deceased woman was described as a 'young' PR specialist who had plans to relocate to Australia for work for three months after the surgery.
The surgeon who passed away was described as a 'foreign' individual who had flown to Majorca, where he had 'worked for decades,' to perform the operation, but his nationality was never disclosed.
A British woman died after traveling to Majorca for cosmetic surgery (Picture: Solarpix)
Melissa Kerr, 31, from Gorleston in Norfolk, died in Istanbul after fat injected during a Brazilian butt lift procedure entered a vein.
She had gone to the private Medicana Haznedar hospital for the procedure in 2019 and passed away on the day of the surgery.
Jacqueline Lake, the senior coroner for Norfolk, stated at the inquest that she would write to the health secretary to express concerns about people traveling abroad for cosmetic surgery.
She mentioned: 'Ms Kerr did not have a consultation with a surgeon or clinician before the procedure date and had a limited assessment beforehand.
An international alert has been issued to surgeons regarding the high mortality rate associated with this procedure. There has also been a voluntary moratorium on this type of procedure in the UK.
She added: 'These guidelines are evidently not being followed in Turkey.
I am worried that patients are not being fully informed about the risks or mortality rate associated with such surgeries. I have concerns that there may be more deaths in the future, and I believe that better information can prevent these deaths.
The woman passed away in a hospital due to complications related to the cosmetic surgery.
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