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Bronx Woman Dies From Tummy Tuck In Dominican Republic
By
John Del Signore
Published Apr 1, 2014
Modified Apr 1, 2014
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By
John Del Signore
Published Apr 1, 2014
Modified Apr 1, 2014
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A 28-year-old Bronx woman died in the Dominican Republic while getting a tummy tuck and liposuction procedure at a clinic in the capital city of Santo Domingo. Single mom Beverly Brignoni flew to the DR on February 19th to get surgery at a clinic her friends recommended. The next day she was dead from a massive pulmonary embolism, according to officials at the Vista del Jardin Medical Center—but family members are demanding a more thorough investigation.
“I was with her right up until she went into the surgery," Brignoni's boyfriend Lesley Martinez tells the Daily News. "We kissed goodbye, said we loved each other, and they wheeled her away. That was the last time I saw her." Brignoni’s godmother, Bernadette Lamboy, gave the News an even more depressing quote: "She had recently lost a lot of weight and she just wanted some surgery to tighten things up."
Following Brignoni's death, the Dominican Republic Health Ministry reportedly inspected the Vista del Jardin Medical Center and ordered the operating room temporarily closed, "citing the presence of bacteria and violations of bio-sanitary regulations." The doctor who performed the surgery has not issued a public statement, and the local DA's office says it's waiting for a formal request from Brignoni's family before conducting an investigation. They say they plan to do so.
Plastic surgery tourism is so popular in the Dominican Republic that the U.S. State Department issued a warning about getting medical procedures in the country, which can sometimes cost a third what they cost in the U.S. But the savings often backfire: At least 19 women from the U.S. developed mycobacterial wound infections over the previous 12 months following cosmetic procedures in the Dominican Republic, the Post reports.
Last year, more than half of the cosmetic procedures performed in the Dominican Republic were conducted on foreigners, and it's nothing new—ten years ago the CDC issued an alarming report warning of postoperative infections in patients undergoing cosmetic surgery procedures in the DR.
Tagged
cosmetic surgery
dominican republic
surgery
tummy tuck
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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