A 41-year-old nursing assistant died on the operating table on June 18 during surgery to remove toxic biopolymer fillers from her buttocks at a clinic inside a shopping center, authorities said.
Paula Andrea Beltran Sandoval, of New York and originally from Medellin, had traveled from the United States for the procedure.
According to El Espectador, she arrived in the city on June 15 to visit family and undergo the operation, which she had arranged from abroad and for which she paid 38 million Colombian pesos, about £8,335. She had developed health problems linked to her original fillers.
The operation took place inside the medical tower at the El Tesoro shopping center in the El Poblado neighborhood.
According to El Colombiano, which cited the judicial report, the procedure ran into trouble about an hour and 10 minutes after it began, after doctors had already made progress removing the biopolymers, when Beltran Sandoval suffered a cardio-respiratory arrest.
Medical staff performed advanced resuscitation, including electric shocks, for more than 40 minutes before declaring her dead.
According to Vibra.co, preliminary information from authorities indicated that Beltran Sandoval had no known illnesses or prior medical history, and that there was no condition that would have signaled a risk before the surgery.
The outlet reported that a Legal Medicine report noted the body showed chest injuries, which would be related to the resuscitation efforts carried out by medical staff during the emergency.
According to El Espectador, the Antioquia health authority announced it had opened an investigation to determine the causes of the death. Specialists from the National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences are set to conduct a full autopsy, while health authorities review the clinic’s records, licenses, and staff qualifications.
Her death is the second linked to cosmetic procedures in Medellin in recent months.
According to El Colombiano, Carolina Merchan Jaramillo, 30, died Feb. 28 at a beauty center in El Poblado. Amid mounting complaints, authorities have stepped up inspections of establishments offering aesthetic procedures, and according to Vibra.co, 64 establishments have been closed after irregularities were found.
Biopolymer injections for cosmetic purposes are prohibited under Colombian law. They are also illegal in the United Kingdom because of risks that include necrosis, migration, and sepsis.
