Surgery Death Exposes Dangerous Obsession

[Truthiness Inspector]

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. (Sept. 7) - Fabiola DePaula's quest for beauty took her to a condominium basement, where authorities say she paid an unlicensed doctor $3,300 for a nose job and liposuction performed on a massage table.

But something went terribly wrong and the 24-year-old nanny died, exposing what investigators say was an underground cosmetic-surgery network used by immigrants from Brazil - a country whose women are world-famous for their beauty and their willingness to go under the knife to achieve it.

"Somebody has to speak out. Go to the Brazilians, open their minds and let them know it's dangerous," said Jacque Foster, a friend of DePaula's. "This is totally beyond unsafe. You have to think about what you are doing."

Authorities believe a Brazilian doctor, Luiz Carlos Ribeiro, performed liposuction, nose jobs and Botox injections for three years in the Framingham area, mostly for the town's large Brazilian immigrant population and mostly for cash.

Police say DePaula, a native of Brazil, went to Ribeiro for a nose job on July 27, then died three days later after the liposuction. According to the autopsy report, DePaula died of complications from the liposuction, including pulmonary fat emboli, or fat particles in the lungs.

More here: http://articles.news.aol.com/news/_a/surgery-death-exposes-dangerous/20060907141209990013?ncid=NWS00010000000001




This is so sad. There is a picture of this young woman at the link, and not that it matters, but it's a case of there was nothing wrong with her at all. An attractive 24 year old woman died while trying to make herself "perfect," whatever that is, that unattainable thing.