What happened to a young woman who died in the middle of an aesthetic procedure in Huila

The woman reportedly suffered health complications after having her anaesthesia performed at a medical center in Neiva

Several days have passed and the family of Karina García Sánchez, 26, still does not understand what the reasons were that led to the death of the young woman before having cosmetic surgery in Neiva, capital of the department of Huila. This is the story.

The woman, who worked as a beauty product merchant, was scheduled for an intervention to make corrections to her septum, a double chin liposuction and an extraction of fat from her face, last Saturday, April 2. In the morning, Karina was admitted to IPS Coven, however, the problems would come just a few minutes after she was given the anesthesia.

Karina's mother, Gloria Sánchez, reported that doctors applied two centimeters of lidocaine, a drug that is part of the family of local anesthetics, to her neck. Subsequently, the woman had a negative reaction, causing serious damage to her nervous system. “The doctors were not able to perform any surgical intervention, because he had cardiac arrest,” he said.

Katherine García Sánchez, Karina's sister, explained that the clinic contacted them around 10:20 in the morning to explain to them what their family member's state of health was. According to this account, the woman “was under general anesthesia, and they proceeded to apply her to local anesthesia in the pagada, and as a result of this she presented a shock to lidocaine”, as compiled by the 'Diario del Huila'.

Karina was able to be revived and then admitted to an Intensive Care Unit (ICU), however, the next day her death was confirmed. “During Saturday and Sunday she had several stoppages and, according to doctors, she was stabilized, but went into unemployment again. She died on Sunday at 5:30 in the afternoon, when she was treated in an Intensive Care Unit. His state of health was so critical that he could not move to a more complex clinic,” said his mother.

The close ones stated that the IPS performed all the examinations prior to the aesthetic procedure, showing that the young woman did not suffer from any disease. Some hypotheses suggest that Karina was allergic to some of the drugs that were applied to her.

The Secretary of Health of Neiva, María del Pilar Perdomo, said that the authorities visited the clinic to do the corresponding validation and try to establish what caused her death.” Likewise, he said that some members of the entity are conducting the investigation: “We have preliminary information, however we have to wait for the entire legal process that arouses this whole situation.”

According to the report of the Ministry of Health, this medical center had all the necessary rules to perform this type of procedure. Now we must wait for the official report of the National Institute of Legal Medicine.

For their part, the relatives of Karina García Sánchez are taking steps to file a criminal complaint against the clinic.

A few weeks ago, the plastic surgeon, Javier Soto, spoke with Semana about the conditions that are taken into account when evaluating whether a woman can undergo these procedures: “Patients who undergo body contouring procedures need to have body mass index below 30, a hemoglobin above 13, certain parameters in blood tests such as their general condition in order to be able to operate them”.

Likewise, the specialist stated that the most performed procedures in Colombia are those of body contouring “because that is our good world name”.

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