A California woman died, and two others were hospitalized after receiving plastic surgery in Tijuana, Mexico. All three patients have the same thing in common: they went to the same clinic.
Keuana Weaver, 38, died on the operating table at Art Siluette Aesthetic Surgery in Tijuana on Jan. 29. She leaves behind two children, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Weaver’s friend, Kanisha Davis, said they both traveled for liposuction and tummy tucks scheduled on the same day with the same doctor. Davis, who is a registered nurse, learned that her friend died after returning home. Shortly after, she began bleeding internally and projectile vomiting.
Davis was hospitalized for two weeks from her plastic surgery in Tijuana.
“If I hadn’t gone into the hospital when I did, I would have died,” Davis said. “I was slowly bleeding to death. I was weak.”
Davis said at the time of the surgery, she felt something was off because staff in the facility did not hook her up to any monitors during the surgery and she was released immediately after the procedure to her hotel room where she was expected to recover.
“Did we know we were taking a risk being in Mexico? Yes,” said Davis. “But did we ever, at any time, think that risk would be death? No.”
A third woman, who the NY Post has identified as Esmeralda Iniguez, doesn’t know Davis or Weaver, but she received the same surgery that day and almost died of septic shock. She has been in and out of the hospital since February struggling with kidney failure.
The women received plastic surgery by the clinic’s director, Dr. Jesús Manuel Báez López. The local association of plastic surgeons said he is not a member of their organization.
“I’m heartbroken. I want to know what happened,” Weaver’s mom, Renee Weaver, said during an interview, adding that she didn’t know Davis went to Mexico for plastic surgery until a family member received a call about her death.
A preliminary autopsy report lists Davis’ cause of death as “secondary hypoxic encephalopathy,” a brain injury caused by oxygen deprivation.
“Keuana was a very independent woman, a good, loving, smart, and very intelligent Black woman,” her mom added. “I’m mostly sad this happened to my daughter because she was already so beautiful to me, inside and out, she just couldn’t see it.”
Mexico officials said they are investigating Weaver’s death.
“We’re working very hard to make sure that doctors who are practicing without the proper credentials are immediately shut down and are investigated by the Attorney General,” Atzimba Villegas, the state director of medical tourism, said in a statement.