A mother from New York died shortly after getting a Brazilian butt lift at a Miami clinic where at least five other patients have died since 2018, despite her mother begging her to cancel the surgery.
Jennifer Arias, 29, got liposuction and the buttocks surgery, known as a BBL, at New Life Plastic Surgery on Aug. 13, family members said. She had severe breathing complications afterward and was taken to HCA Florida Kendall Hospital, where she died.
Her mother, Mónica Arias, said she pleaded with Jennifer to cancel. She told her daughter that she was already beautiful and mentioned her own granddaughter, Jenella, who is 7.
“Be a mother first, and a woman second. If something happens to you, what will become of your daughter?” Mónica Arias recalled saying to her.
Jennifer’s sister, Erika Arias, told NBC 6 South Florida that Jennifer texted her at 4:18 a.m. on the day of the surgery to let her know she was going in. Hours later, Erika got a call saying her sister was not doing well and was having trouble breathing.
The family flew to Miami and found out at the hospital that Jennifer had died.
The county medical examiner’s office determined that Jennifer died of bilateral pulmonary fat emboli caused by the liposuction and fat transfer to her buttocks, NBC 6 reported. This condition involves fat entering the bloodstream and blocking the vessels in the lungs. Her death was deemed an accident.
The county sheriff’s office confirmed that its homicide bureau has an open investigation into her death. Her father, Wilson Arias, said he wants investigators to find out what happened.
“My daughter isn’t coming back. She’s not coming back,” Mónica Arias said.
NBC 6’s investigation of civil lawsuits and state and county records determined that Jennifer is at least the sixth patient to have died after surgery at New Life since 2018. Some of these deaths occurred months apart.
In 2018, Adianet Galbán González, 30, of Naples, Florida, died after getting a fat transfer to the buttocks at the clinic, Telemundo 51 reported. In February 2022, Naimy Sucetz, 41, died of a blood clot in her lungs after liposuction and a tummy tuck there. Two months later, Tanesha Walker, 47, of Indiana, died of a pulmonary fat embolism after a BBL and liposuction at the clinic, according to her autopsy.
In December, a Maryland mother, Melecia Green, died after getting a tummy tuck and liposuction at New Life. Her family’s wrongful-death lawsuit led to a $325,000 settlement, the Miami Herald reported.
In the case of Sucetz, the surgeon is the same one Jennifer’s family says operated on her, NBC 6 determined. The station identified at least four lawsuits since 2020 accusing him of improper care that hurt patients. He denied the allegations; two cases were settled and two are still pending. The Florida Board of Medicine reprimanded him in 2024 and fined him $15,000 to settle three administrative complaints, to which he did not admit or deny.
Erika Arias says she feels guilty for not doing a better job of researching the surgeon’s background and thinks her sister chose him because his services were inexpensive.
County court records show that New Life has faced more than a dozen malpractice lawsuits in the past six years. In court filings, the clinic has denied liability and argued that it is not responsible for doctors who operate there since they work as independent contractors. The clinic, the surgeon, and their attorneys did not respond to NBC 6’s questions regarding Jennifer’s death.
Brazilian butt lifts involve transferring fat from other parts of the body to the buttocks. In 2018, surgical groups issued a warning that 1 in 3,000 patients died from the procedure, a higher rate than for any other cosmetic surgery. Most deaths involved fat injection into the gluteal muscle, where it could get into the large veins and end up in the lungs. A 2020 survey of plastic surgeons placed the rate around 1 in 15,000 after new safety guidelines took effect.
Florida has tightened its regulations several times as South Florida became a national hub for this surgery. In 2019, the state Board of Medicine banned doctors from injecting fat into or beneath the gluteal muscle. In 2022, it restricted surgeons to performing three BBLs per day and required ultrasound guidance during fat injections. A later state law enforced the ultrasound rule and required doctors to conduct in-person examinations before surgery.
But deaths have persisted. Eight women in South Florida died of fat embolisms after BBLs in 2021, according to a Miami plastic surgeon quoted by NBC 6.
Erika Arias has started a fundraiser to help Jenella. The family hopes that Jennifer’s story will make people think twice about the risks of cosmetic surgery and push for better patient protection laws.
“I don’t want another mother, another family, another daughter crying over the loss,” Mónica Arias said.
