A woman from Los Angeles has died after she underwent a liposuction procedure in Mexico that put her in a coma.
Irma Saenz, 51, died at a hospital in San Diego on Saturday, Nov. 11. following a trip to Tijuana, Mexico.
“Why, why did you do it?“ Saenz’s sister, Carmen Quintana, told KTLA. ”There was no need to do it.”
Her relatives said doctor Guillermo Diaz Vergara performed the procedure.
“We just want justice, you know?” Saenz’s nephew David Reynoso told KTLA.
The family did not know that Saenz was traveling to Mexico and was surprised to hear that she had taken an Uber from Los Angeles to the Mexican border city to see the doctor.
Relatives say that it was the same Uber driver who told doctors to call the only emergency contact Saenz had listed—her boyfriend—after the surgery went wrong.
“She suffered lack of oxygen which caused significant brain injury,” her niece Nora Saenz told KTLA.
After Saenz’s relatives heard the news, they rushed to Mexico.
They transported her to a hospital in San Diego, but too late. A lack of oxygen had left her in a vegetative state, the family was told.
“When we brought her over to San Diego they mentioned how the tube they used to put ventilation in wasn’t even installed properly so we have no idea how long my aunt went without oxygen to the brain,” Nora Saenz told KTLA.
Relatives said they tried calling Dr. Diaz Vergara’s office in Tijuana to get more information but to no avail.
“I tried calling him. He doesn’t answer anymore,“ Reynoso told KTLA. ”[I] tried sending [him] messages through FB, [but] he just blocked me.”
“It was very hard, especially because you didn’t recognize her because her face was very swollen and the only way to tell it was her was by the feet,” sister Quintana told CBS.
The hospital where they took her told them they have seen an increase in the number of patients with botched plastic surgeries from Mexico.
The family is warning others not to travel across the border for liposuction.
“Don’t do it. Do your research. [It’s] not worth your life” nephew Reynoso told KTLA.