DO THE RESEARCH: Medical tourism not always good for you 03 APR 2014: Beverly Brignoni was a young New Yorker seeking a less expensive way to enhance her appearance and she did what many other people are now doing: she travelled to the Dominican Republic for cosmetic surgery. It went horribly wrong. The 28-year-old died Feb. 20 from what the doctor told her family was a massive pulmonary embolism while getting a tummy tuck and liposuction at a clinic in the Dominican capital recommended by friends. Family members want local authorities to investigate. We want to know exactly what happened, said Bernadette Lamboy, Brignonis godmother. We want to know if there was negligence. The district attorneys office for Santo Domingo says it has not yet begun an investigation because it has not received a formal complaint from Brignonis relatives. Family members say they plan to make one. Shortly after Brignonis death, the Health Ministry inspected the Vista del Jardin Medical Center where she was treated and ordered the operating room temporarily closed, citing the presence of bacteria and violations of bio-sanitary regulations.. Brignonis death is unusual, but it is not isolated. Concerns about the booming cosmetic surgery business in the Dominican Republic are enough of an issue that the State Department has posted a warning on its page for travel to that country, noting that in several cases US citizens have suffered serious complications or died. The US Centers for Disease Control issued an alert March 7 after health authorities in the US reported that at least 19 women in five states had developed serious mycobacterial wound infections over the previous 12 months following cosmetic procedures in the Dominican Republic such as liposuction, tummy tucks and breast implants. There were no reported deaths in those cases, but treatment for these types of infections, which have been caused in the past by contaminated medical equipment, tend to involve long courses of antibiotics and can require new surgery to remove infected tissue and drain fluid, said Dr. Douglas Esposito, a CDC medical officer. Some of these patients end up going through one or more surgeries and various travels through the medical system, Esposito said. They take a long time typically to get better. The Dominican Republic, like countries such as Mexico, Costa Rica and Thailand, has promoted itself as a destination for medical tourism, so-called because people will often tack on a few days at a resort after undergoing surgery. The main allure is much lower costs along with the promise that conditions will be on par with what a patient would encounter at home. In 2013, there were more than 1,000 cosmetic procedures performed in the Dominican Republic, 60 percent of them on foreigners, according to the countrys Plastic Surgery Society. The Internet is flooded with advertisements and testimonials from people who say they have had successful procedures in the Dominican Republic, and an industry of recovery houses has sprung up to serve clients, along with promoters who canvass for clients in the US and Canada. The price is often about a third of the cost. Dr. Braun Graham, a plastic surgeon in Sarasota, Florida, says he done corrective surgery on people for what he says were inferior procedures abroad. He warns that even if a foreign doctor is talented, nurses and support staff may lack adequate training. Clearly, the cost savings is certainly not worth the increased risk of a fatal complication, said Graham, past president for Florida Society of Plastic Surgeons. Brignoni was referred to the Vista del Jardin Medical Center by several acquaintances in the New York borough of the Bronx where she lived, said Lamboy and Lenny Ulloa, the father of the 4-year-old daughter she left behind. Supposedly, it was a high-end clinic, one of the best in the city, Ulloa said. Juan Linares, a lawyer hired by Brignonis boyfriend, said he is still awaiting an autopsy report. Because she arrived in the country late at night on a delayed flight and was on the operating table early the next morning, a main concern is whether she received an adequate medical evaluation before the procedure. Graham, the Florida surgeon, said sitting on a plane for several hours can cause blood to stagnate in the legs and increase the risk of an embolism. Brignoni paid the Dominican clinic $6,300 for a combination of liposuction, tummy tuck and breast surgery. Lamboy said she had decided not to have the work done on her breasts and was expecting a partial refund. The woman, who worked as a property manager, had lost about 80 pounds about a year earlier after gastric bypass surgery. She wanted it so bad, her godmother said. It felt like she was going to have a better outlook on life, getting this done. And is that perhaps is part of the problem? Have we really become a society where cosmetic surgery is the final answer to apparent beauty and self esteem. Do 80 year olds really need to look like plastic mannequins? Not their age certainly - but no determinate age - just frozen in some curious time and all looking rigidly alike. Is that beauty? Jacqueline Bisset and Jane Seymour recently did an interview about aging. Neither woman has had surgery or Botox - neither intend to. They wear their ages well . They have no problem looking their age and they look beautiful. Not young - but beautiful. About a year before she died, I saw Audrey Hepburn shopping at Holt Renfrew in Toronto. We were at the same counter just feet apart. She was wearing a white t-shirt and khaki pants, her hair tied back. Her face was lightly made up, the wrinkles on her forehead and around her eyes obvious. She looked like what she was - a woman in her sixties. She was beautiful. Why on earth are twenty and thirty somethings getting cosmetic surgery? For that matter, why is anyone? JustTravelDeals.ca
Posted on: Fri, 04 Apr 2014 00:54:45 +0000
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