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Backroom surgery death raises questions about 'makeshift' doctors
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Elena Caro Photo Courtesy Channel 8
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A man rides past a backroom surgery center on East Charleston Boulevard where police say Colombians posing as doctors botched a surgery on Elena Caro, who later died. Jerry Henkel/Las Vegas Review-Journal » Buy this photo
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Ruben Dario Matallana-Galvas
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Carmen Olfidia Torres-Sanchez
Updated: Apr. 12, 2011 | 6:34 a.m.
The death of Elena Caro, which police say came at the hands of Colombians who flew into Southern Nevada posing as medical practitioners, has left Las Vegas plastic surgeon Dr. Julio Garcia wondering who set her up for what turned out to be a fatal buttocks enhancement.
"Who is marketing Las Vegans to these people?" he said. "You know they didn't come all the way here if they weren't assured patients. And they're sure not advertising any normal way. I feel whoever is telling people they can get cheap plastic surgery from these people is as guilty as the guy who did it. They're taking advantage of people in their community. More has to be done to fight this medical fraud."
At a news conference Monday, Homicide Lt. Lew Roberts said Caro's death was not an isolated case of a "makeshift doctor" illegally treating patients, although this was the first fatality he could recall.
Hispanic neighborhoods have long been targeted, he said. In 2009, several natural medicine stores or "botanicas" were shut down by state health officials after a botched gynecological surgery in the back of one of the shops.
Plastic and cosmetic surgeons throughout Southern Nevada Monday were talking about Caro's death and the arrest on murder charges of Ruben Dario Matallana-Galvas, 55, and his 47-year-old wife, Carmen Olfidia Torres-Sanchez.
They were taken into custody by Las Vegas police Saturday night at McCarran International Airport as they tried to flee the country.
Caro, 42, died at North Vista Hospital after a back-room cosmetic procedure in the small office of a floor tile business, Tiles N More, at 3310 E. Charleston Blvd.
Matallana-Galvas told people he was a "homeopathic doctor" back in Colombia.
"Unfortunately," said Dr. Samir Pancholi, a cosmetic surgeon, "too many people now view surgery as a simple business activity where you can get a good deal and they don't think about safety. If you don't know what you're doing with injections, you can easily go straight into a blood vessel, and whatever you're injecting will go to the heart or lungs and kill you."
MEETING TO ADDRESS MEDICAL FRAUD
There's little doubt in the mind of Garcia, who said in the past he has had to try to undo the damage done by quacks, that the Colombian couple had other patients to see in Las Vegas.
"Their tickets to leave were for April 22," said Garcia. "But they tried to get out of town on April 10 after this poor woman had complications."
Maria Emilia Guenechea, projects coordinator for the Latino Research Center at the University of Nevada, Reno, said a special meeting will be at 2 p.m. today at the Mexican Consulate of Las Vegas to discuss medical fraud at botanicas.
"This (Caro's death) is one case in the hundreds of malpractice cases that go unreported," she said. "If you go behind the botanicas you will find the same thing."
Guenechea said the Hispanic community has been trying to improve education through workshops.
"What is an M.D.? What is a physician assistant? We are trying to educate," she said.
According to an arrest report, Matallana-Galvas told police that he injected Caro with 200 cubic centimeters of a "gel type substance in six separate injection sites" in her buttocks. He told police he initially refused to treat Caro because he did not have the proper equipment, but he later agreed to inject her. She left the office on foot, he said.
Roberts said the Clark County coroner's office will determine what was in the injection.
VICTIM'S FRIEND HAD SUCCESSFUL SURGERY
Several people, who noticed Caro walking in obvious pain in the 3500 block of East Lake Mead Boulevard, called 911. She was taken by ambulance to North Vista Hospital where she died.
Police still have no idea how she made it the three miles from the Charleston office to the Lake Mead area. She did not live in the area.
Caro had been dropped off at the Charleston office by her 17-year-old daughter, Janet Villalovos.
Villalovos told the Associated Press that her family had begged Caro not to undergo cosmetic surgery.
However, encouraged by a friend who said she had successfully received buttocks enhancement surgery from Matallana-Galvas, Caro booked an appointment for facial Botox injections with him earlier this month.
When no complications arose, Caro quickly scheduled the buttocks surgery. She told only her daughter because she was worried that her husband, brother and sister would be too critical of the procedure and try to talk her out of it.
That morning, Villalovos said, she drove her mother to the makeshift medical office and gave Matallana-Galvas a warning.
"I told them, take care of her, please," Villalovos recalled. "He told me, 'Everything is going to be fine. Don't worry.' "
Villalovos watched the doctor and his wife inject one shot into her mother's buttocks. The sight made her squeamish, so she told her mother she was leaving and would return in four hours when the procedure was done. An hour later, her mother called to say everything was going well.
Later, her mother didn't answer repeated calls, Villalovos said.
When Villalovos said she went back to the office several hours later, the business had been emptied and the furniture rearranged. She called North Las Vegas police, who initially treated her report as a missing person case.
DOCTORS DESCRIBE PROCEDURES GONE BAD
Eight years ago Garcia said he had to perform six surgeries on a Las Vegas woman who had been injected with floor wax in her buttocks during a trip to Mexico. Around that same time, Dr. William Zamboni, chief of the division of plastic surgery at the University of Nevada School of Medicine, said he had to do repeated surgeries on six women who been injected in the buttocks with industrial grade silicone.
"If you're lucky enough to live, the scarring afterwards is terrible," Zamboni said. "It becomes a lifelong problem as that stuff tries to work its way out."
According to plastic surgeons, butt augmentation became more popular around the world because of actress Jennifer Lopez, who first gained celebrity when she took the role of Selena in a 1997 movie about the late singer's life.
"What (actress) Pam Anderson did for breast augmentation, J-Lo did for butt augmentation," said a plastic surgeon who requested anonymity. "They were both great for business."
The two safe ways to augment buttocks are either through taking fat from one part of a woman's body and grafting it to her rear end or by surgically imbedding silicone implants in the butt cheeks.
According to Florida authorities, dangerous underground "pumping parties" have become popular in apartment type settings, where injections are done by a non-physicians.
In February a London woman died after receiving cosmetic injections in her buttocks at a hotel near Philadelphia International Airport. In 2009 Solange Magnano a 38-year-old model and former Miss Argentina, died in Buenos Aires from complications after having cosmetic injections on her buttocks.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. Contact reporter Paul Harasim at pharasim@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2908. Contact reporter Mike Blasky at mblasky@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0283.
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There's ads for this crap in every Latino newspaper.
Reminds me of being in Chinatwon in San Francisco and seeing "tiger penis" in a box written in Chinese (which I could read).
I told the cop on the corner and he just shrugged his shoulders. This is an endangered animal I explained in vain.
Just like this crap. Nothing is going to be done and it will continue!
@ CindyH,, Perhaps the mother should have thought of her family before making such irresponsible decisions. Her decisions are not on us but on her and those like her having the mentality our laws have no reasons except to obstruct their agendas. The blame isn’t misplaced.
Now that we are through blaming the victim, we might want to pause for a moment and consider the 17-year-old child who has lost her mother.
@say no to bad medical,, Actually this did make national news and again those illegal or poor with the mentality that our laws are not for them or hinder their quest continue to spew victimhood. We are not talking about needed surgery we are talking about cosmetic surgery. Certainly claiming stupidity is another ruse since millions are intelligent enough to exploit every system and social entity we have besides jumping the border. If your group mentality is part of the problem perhaps more in your group and communities should report fraudulent surgical centers. Of course I understand it’s rather hard to tell if a medical practice isn’t licensed, when the sign on door says, Tiles N More.!!! Really with such a successful intelligent invasion I hardly believe they are dumb. Possibly has more to do with an acceptance of criminality and selfish mentality. Or maybe their own superiority and entitlement beliefs rather than any blame whitey or wealth; but why take responsibility for your own actions. I did hear they have great tile choices though.
I heard they do taxes too...
This happens even with licensed medical office way to often, Take El Dora Medical in NLV. They have an RN not a PA or FNP diagnosing patients and rounding on them like they were doctors or FNP, the worst part is that the FNP and MD lets this happen even though their licenses are on the line, why do they do this, because the board will never open an investigation and actually to their job correctly!!! these poor people that are uneducated, poor believe these medical office, they take advantage of them because they don’t know better and because of their legal statues . Its said that the medical board lets this go on way to many times. What’s the purpose of having the medical board? So they can arrest doctors that are actually try to cure patients but let this happen with office in non affluent areas because no one will really care if Maria Garcia died, But if this was happening in Summerlin and Dale White got sick, believe me it would be all over the news, this office would be closed and all the medical directors would be apprehended. I’m sure this positing will be deleted, however the truth is out their and its our jobs to clean this up and stop medical fraud! Since in the long run its out tax dollars paying for these mistakes.
Since we are on the subject of wacky doctors who care more about the dollar than the patient. I thought I would check out Dr. Michael Kaplan's web site again to see if any more of this golfing good ole boys decided to profess their love for him so they would be included in some of his all expense paid trips. I was greatly disturbed to see the website www.DrMichaelKaplanTheTruth.com was down for maintenance. Or, perhaps it is just being disinfected for re-use. But don't worry, on the Nevada Board of Medical Examiners website is the formal 6 page Complaint. It makes an interesting read. Tomorrow is his hearing. I hope the Medical Board sticks to their guns. If they don't it they will just open the door for more people like the one's from Columbia.
@Generic_Name,,It’s no joke we have a huge segment of people in our community that come here illegally and decide our laws and regulations don’t apply to them. Their quest and decisions in their community have cost us enormously and for some citizens it has even cost them their lives. (Arizona farmers and other victims) Now when one of their own is victimized by the same mentality she and others like her have concerning our country; we should all feel oh so bad. Sorry it is this gross disrespect for our country, its laws and its citizens that have allowed situations like this to fester and overwhelm our regulatory systems. We have reached an uncontrollable state and when this acceptance of lawlessness eats one of their own, that’s called KARMA.
@Generic_Name,, It’s no joke we have a huge segment of people in our community that come here illegally and decide our laws and regulations don’t apply to them. Their quest and decisions in their community have cost us enormously and for some citizens it has even cost them their lives. (Arizona farmers and other victims) Now when one of their own is victimized by the same mentality she and others like her have concerning our country; we should all feel oh so bad. Sorry it is this gross disrespect for our country, its laws and its citizens that have allowed situations like this to fester and overwhelm our regulatory systems. We have reached an uncontrollable state and when this acceptance of lawlessness eats one of their own, that’s called KARMA.
@Generic, I agree it is sad that someone died here. But this situation is nearly one for the Darwin Awards. Anyone with a modicum of common sense knows that you do not get a medical procedure done in the back room of a tile store. Look at the conditions, the price, and the accreditation of the person performing the procedure. If any of that does not add up or feel right than you walk away. This is vanity and greed, pure and simple.