Plastic surgery: Lagos clinic denies negligence as lady dies

Cynosure Aesthetic Plastic Surgery Clinics, a Lagos-based medical facility, has denied allegations of negligence following the death of a lady.

On Wednesday, reports claiming Destiny, the 20-year-old lady, died after undergoing plastic surgery at the clinic went viral on social media.

Her friends alleged that she died after being unable to breathe properly — shortly after the surgery. She was also said to have died of a fat embolism.

Fat embolism is a process when fat enters the bloodstream of a person, causing a blockage of blood flow.  

However, the clinic set the record straight on the rumour surrounding Destiny’s death in a statement issued via its Instagram page.

The statement said the client was “stable and doing well” after the surgery.

The health facility said four days after the surgery, the nurses, however, detected that “she was having some degree of difficulty in breathing with a low oxygen saturation and blood pressure.” 

The statement added that she left the clinic premises to the intensive care unit (ICU) specialist hospital in a “relatively stable condition”.

“We received the sad news of her demise yesterday (Tuesday) from the ICU,” the statement added.

In a follow-up statement on Thursday, the medical facility dismissed “misinformation and wrong assumptions” that Destiny died of fat embolism.

The clinic also commiserated with the family of the deceased.

“We are aware that it is reasonable to speculate that fat embolism was the most likely cause of her sudden onset of breathlessness. However, we wish to state the following,” the statement reads. 

“A CT Pulmonary Angiogram (CTPA) was conducted the same day the client arrived at the ICU and the result showed there was NO PULMONARY EMBOLISM. BY the way, a CTPA is the gold standard for diagnosing PULMONARY EMBOLISM (whether for fat, blood clot or air embolism).

“Till date, we have no records of pulmonary embolism of any kind, to the glory of God, despite the number of surgeries done so far.

“The deceased was the third client to ever be referred to an ICU with the previous two being successfully managed at the same reputable ICU Hospital which is within 10 mins drive from our facility.

“Samples have been sent for COVID-19 testing on account of her recent travel history, as well as some features seen on the CTPA.

“We enjoin the general public to show more respect to the family of the deceased and refrain from sharing the extremely sensitive videos which have been released by her ‘friends’ for reasons best known to them.” 

The Lagos-based medical facility had also been in the news in June 2022 after it was accused of negligence in the death of another lady.