A young mum who gifted herself a BBL for her birthday has tragically died just weeks after her surgery.
Marilha Menezes Antunes went under the knife at a clinic in Brazil just a week after turning 28 years old, in an operation involving liposuction on her back with fat grafting to her buttocks. She was joined by her father and sister Léa Carolina at the private clinic, who said she recalled overhearing a nurse urgently calling for an ambulance. "I asked if someone was unwell, but no one answered," Léa told local media.
"I went up to the operating room and saw the doctor trying to resuscitate my sister. I asked what he needed, and he said oxygen. I called the emergency ambulance service and then the Military Police, because the doctor wasn’t explaining what had happened. It was only after the police arrived that the death certificate was issued."
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The doctor is said to have first told officers that Marilha had suffered a bronchoaspiration followed by a cardiorespiratory arrest on Monday, September 8. But an autopsy found the mum had died from hypovolemic shock, internal bleeding, and perforating blunt-force trauma.
Relatives insist Marilha was healthy, saying she had sought a doctor's recommendation, researched the risks, and undergone all the required pre-surgery tests. They are convinced a punctured organ caused fatal haemorrhaging, and are now seeking answers from the clinic in Rio de Janeiro.
"My sister was full of life," Léa said. "I took her to make a dream come true, and instead she met death."
The clinic said in a statement: "AMACOR is classified as a day hospital, and its surgical centre functions as a facility rented by independent medical teams to carry out procedures. Our responsibility is to provide the infrastructure and guidance for local medical practice. The surgical centre is fully equipped with all essential devices for handling cardiovascular and respiratory emergencies."
It added that the medical team acted immediately after "detecting signs of haemodynamic instability during the procedure".
Marilha, who was a mum to a six-year-old boy, worked as an occupational safety technician at an aviation company. An investigation into her death is ongoing, with Amacor saying it will cooperate fully with the authorities.