After Outpatient Beauty Surgical procedure, They Wound Up within the Hospital or Alone at a Restoration Home

Fred Schulte, KFF Well being Information

Lisa Farris nervous {that a} nasty an infection from latest liposuction and a tummy tuck was quickly getting worse. So she phoned the beauty surgical procedure middle to ask if she ought to head to the emergency room, she alleges in a lawsuit.

The nurse who took the decision on the Sono Bello middle in Addison, Texas, instructed her she “completely mustn’t” go to the ER — though Farris “had a big gush of foul fluid” leaking from the incision, in line with data within the malpractice case she filed towards the beauty surgical procedure chain in 2024.

The nurse instructed Farris she “solely wanted to bolster her dressing to gather the fluid drainage and provides it time,” filings within the lawsuit alleged.

“Fortunately, Ms. Farris did go to the ER the place she was recognized with sepsis from her surgical procedure issues,” a medical professional for her authorized crew wrote in a court docket submitting. Left untreated, sepsis can result in dying.

Sono Bello officers declined to debate malpractice instances filed towards the corporate, citing affected person privateness legal guidelines. However in court docket filings, the corporate has disputed Farris’ claims. The case is about for trial early subsequent yr.

The Farris lawsuit is one in every of dozens of medical malpractice instances filed over the previous three years that accuse beauty surgical procedure chains of failing to supply satisfactory take care of sufferers within the days and weeks after their procedures — in lots of instances by allegedly neglecting to promptly deal with painful infections and different severe issues — together with for 4 sufferers who died, a KFF Well being Information investigation discovered.

In some instances, sufferers who traveled a whole lot of miles or extra for seemingly routine surgical procedures allegedly suffered painful issues whereas recuperating in resort rooms or unlicensed “restoration properties,” which they stated lacked satisfactory medical employees and supervision, in line with court docket filings.

Whereas issues, equivalent to infections, can happen after any surgical process, issues associated to postoperative care are blamed for contributing to accidents in over two-thirds of the beauty surgical procedure instances KFF Well being Information reviewed.

The surgical procedure firms concerned — some, like Sono Bello, financed by non-public fairness traders — supply elective procedures equivalent to liposuction and “Mommy Makeovers” to sufferers who pay hundreds of {dollars} out-of-pocket or on credit score. Adverts promise life-changing physique reshaping methods with minimal threat and fast restoration instances.

Medical malpractice lawsuits have trailed behind the expansion of those firms. Fits have accused the chains of hiring medical doctors who lacked satisfactory coaching or had troubled pasts, and of utilizing high-pressure gross sales ways and deceptive promoting pitches that downplay security dangers, court docket data present. The businesses dispute these allegations and have gained dismissal of some fits.

Patrick Schaner, a plastic surgeon and a Sono Bello medical director, careworn that the corporate has carried out greater than 300,000 beauty operations with minimal issues. “That context is essential,” he stated in an interview.

Schaner stated Sono Bello surgeons are “good at what they do” due to the massive numbers of procedures they carry out. “We do an important job of getting security protocols in place,” he stated.

Many sufferers who file lawsuits blame disfiguring accidents on what occurred after their operations, equivalent to workplace visits during which medical employees allegedly didn’t acknowledge, or dismissed, proof of worsening surgical issues, court docket data present.

A nurse at a Sono Bello middle exterior Chicago allegedly did not alert medical doctors when Mary Anne Garcia, a affected person who had had liposuction on the middle about three weeks earlier, confirmed up there together with her aunt. Garcia was dizzy and so weak she required a wheelchair to get again to the automobile, in line with a lawsuit her property filed in September.

Relatively than inform Garcia to go to an emergency room, the Sono Bello nurse instructed her to “drink extra fluids and attempt to eat one thing,” in line with the grievance.

Garcia died the following day from cardiac arrest, in line with the lawsuit. Sono Bello has but to file a response to the lawsuit in court docket.

‘It Was Horrifying’

Susan Easley, 59, a veteran U.S. Company for Worldwide Growth govt who spent 20 years engaged on AIDS initiatives in Africa, died in a Washington, D.C., short-term residence final yr.

Her son Gavin discovered her physique Might 13, 2024, 4 days after she had an AirSculpt liposuction and fats switch operation at Elite Physique Sculpture in close by Vienna, Virginia, in line with a lawsuit filed in November.

“It was horrifying,” Gavin Easley instructed KFF Well being Information in an interview. “My mom was the definition of variety, caring, and unconditionally loving. She was essentially the most unimaginable girl I’ve ever recognized,” stated Easley, 29, who runs an natural farm in Arkansas along with his spouse.

The go well with alleges that surgeon Dare Ajibade gave Easley an extreme quantity of the anesthetic lidocaine throughout the 6½-hour process and failed to acknowledge persistent vomiting afterward as an indication of toxicity. She referred to as the clinic to report her situation, however her considerations have been dismissed, the go well with alleges.

“When she referred to as to report issues, they didn’t take it significantly,” stated Virginia lawyer Peter Anderson, who filed the go well with. He stated Easley introduced “clear indicators and signs” of issues.

AirSculpt is a model of Elite Physique Sculpture, a Miami Seashore-based chain based by beauty surgeon Aaron Rollins. The corporate, which is financed by non-public fairness traders, has about 30 branches throughout the nation. Neither the corporate nor Rollins responded to repeated requests for touch upon affected person lawsuits. In court docket filings, the corporate has denied the allegations.

Ajibade has since relocated to Texas, the place he works for Sono Bello in San Antonio, in line with the corporate. Neither the surgeon nor the Virginia surgical procedure workplace, which can be a defendant within the case, returned requires remark. The defendants have but to file a solution in court docket.

A Booming Enterprise

Sono Bello, with greater than 100 facilities nationwide, payments itself as “America’s #1 Beauty Surgical procedure Specialist.”

Sufferers filed seven malpractice instances towards Sono Bello in September — every in a distinct state. In an interview, Marcy Norwood Lynch, a Sono Bello govt vice chairman and chief authorized officer, speculated that the spurt in instances was associated to reporting by KFF Well being Information and NBC Information in regards to the firm. There “may very well be alignment” between the protection and the submitting of the fits, she stated. The corporate has denied the allegations in court docket.

KFF Well being Information reviewed a pattern of greater than 100 medical malpractice instances filed towards multistate surgical procedure chains from the beginning of February 2023 by means of November 2025. Malpractice fits don’t by themselves show substandard care, although many medical authorities and licensing boards take into account them a device for serving to to guage medical high quality.

Heather Faulkner, a plastic surgeon and affiliate professor at Emory College Faculty of Drugs in Atlanta, stated surgeons should rapidly acknowledge indicators of an infection earlier than they progress and grow to be severe, even life-threatening situations.

At Emory, she stated, surgeons should attend their sufferers’ first go to after beauty surgical procedure. “In the end, the doctor is the one accountable,” she stated. “The affected person needs to be seen by the one that did the operation and is aware of methods to acknowledge one thing is mistaken,” Faulkner stated in an interview.

Sufferers suing beauty surgical procedure chains usually argue that they have been seen by nurses or different employees members who, they allege, lacked the coaching to acknowledge and take care of issues earlier than they required emergency wound care.

Schaner, the Sono Bello medical director, stated the corporate has a telephone messaging system that ensures sufferers can get in contact with their surgeon or different firm physicians. Whereas nurses see some sufferers, the “final decision-making is handed to the surgeon,” he stated.

5 sufferers handled at Sono Bello facilities who sued the corporate throughout 2025 alleged that surgical wound issues have been dismissed after medical employees, together with surgeons, considered footage of the accidents, court docket data present. The instances are pending.

Schaner stated Sono Bello typically has sufferers submit pictures of wounds however the photos are “not the only real technique of triage” of affected person accidents or issues.

Joshua Kiernan sued Sono Bello after having liposuction on Might 28, 2024, on the department in Columbia, South Carolina. On June 8, 2024, he stumbled and fell in a health club parking zone, inflicting drainage across the incision in his abdomen, in line with the go well with. On June 17, 2024, Kiernan visited the workplace complaining of “redness and ache” across the incision, in line with his go well with.

The surgeon, Stancie Rhodes, didn’t look at him in particular person however had an workplace employees member take an image “in order that she might view it from one other a part of the workplace,” in line with the grievance.

The surgeon despatched again phrase that the picture “appeared high-quality,” and Kiernan was instructed to take Tylenol for the ache and observe up on the workplace every week later, the grievance alleged.

Two days earlier than his appointment, Kiernan required emergency hospital remedy for “stomach hematoma and an infection,” in line with the go well with.

Kiernan underwent six surgical procedures and ran up medical payments of greater than $325,000 to deal with his situation, in line with the go well with. In court docket filings, Sono Bello denied the allegations.

“Surgical care doesn’t finish on the final sew,” stated Mark Domanski, a plastic surgeon in Virginia, who believes the chain clinics usually are more proficient at advertising than offering sufferers with top-notch care. “It entails postoperative visits with the surgeon who did the process, who’s there to reply to the affected person’s considerations, questions, particularly if issues should not going effectively,” he stated.

Restoration Homes

Many sufferers who journey for beauty surgical procedure, both to economize or as a result of companies aren’t out there of their space, can’t return residence straight away.

But there’s little settlement on the place sufferers ought to recuperate, for the way lengthy, and what medical companies must be available to them.

Scott Hollenbeck, fast previous president of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, stated legal guidelines or laws in most states don’t spell out necessities.

“This will create a large variation of oversight, employees {qualifications}, and out there medical help,” he stated.

The cosmetic surgery society has warned towards a cottage trade of restoration homes that always cost sufferers a whole lot of {dollars} an evening whereas they recuperate, though they might lack medical employees able to dealing with doable surgical issues.

Court docket filings in Florida present sufferers staying in restoration homes and lodges have died or suffered untreated issues, largely in South Florida, the place officers have struggled for a decade or extra to manage unlicensed services. One native lawmaker just lately filed a invoice to rein them in.

Hollenbeck stated sufferers who recuperate in a resort or different facility want to search out out upfront what “degree of care” might be out there. He stated advertisements touting “luxurious” lodging or “conveniently situated” don’t make a resort “clinically certified to supply restoration care.”

Easley, whose mom died in Washington, D.C., stated he’s struggling to grasp what occurred after a medical transportation service took her from the Virginia surgical procedure middle to a brief residence.

He stated his mom, who was born in a small village in Uganda earlier than emigrating to the U.S. as a teen and becoming a member of the U.S. Military, “had so many plans” for the long run.

Susan Easley had been medically cleared for a new task in Africa. After that, she deliberate to retire and begin a farm in Tanzania, amongst different issues, in line with her son.

The lawsuit alleges the surgical procedure middle discharged her prematurely given indicators of a harmful situation referred to as native anesthetic systemic toxicity brought on by an overdose of lidocaine.

Susan Easley referred to as the surgical procedure middle that day and reported “a number of situations of nausea and vomiting,” however there’s “no proof” that anybody instructed her to go to an emergency room, in line with the go well with.

“I don’t know what they stated to her,” Gavin Easley stated. “It’s a horrifying thought for me. I don’t know methods to resolve that thriller.”

‘Preventable Dying’

Some lawsuits take goal at selections made by help employees members, who assist monitor sufferers after surgical procedure.

That’s a important subject within the case of Mary Anne Garcia, the Illinois girl who died after her aunt drove her to the Sono Bello workplace in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois, on June 4, 2024.

Garcia “was feeling sluggish, dizzy, and nauseated,” in line with the go well with. She additionally had a speedy heartbeat and low blood strain, in line with the grievance. However registered nurse Lucia Raddatz didn’t notify the surgeon or urge Garcia to hunt emergency care though Raddatz had to assist her again to the automobile in a wheelchair attributable to Garcia’s “severely weakened situation,” in line with the go well with.

Filed on behalf of Garcia’s property, the go well with names Raddatz and Sono Bello as defendants. An emergency room doctor employed as an professional within the case opined that had Garcia gone to the emergency room on June 4, “she would have acquired care which might have prevented her dying,” court docket data state. Sono Bello had no remark and has but to file a solution in court docket.

Established plastic surgeons say they’re usually referred to as upon to deal with sufferers who arrive within the emergency room with issues as a result of surgeons working for the chains could lack native hospital privileges or are in any other case not out there for consultations.

“There’s not one colleague of mine who has not handled the issues of some of these services or med spas on a couple of event,” stated Charles Pierce, president-elect of the New Jersey Society of Plastic Surgeons.

‘Indignant and Betrayed’

Medical doctors at an Austin, Texas, hospital expressed such frustration whereas caring for Anna Palko, a 33-year-old mom of 4, in line with a malpractice go well with she filed in November towards surgeon Rambod Charepoo and his employer, Mia Aesthetics. The Miami-based beauty surgical procedure firm, which operates in a couple of dozen cities, together with Austin, advertises that it delivers the highest high quality of cosmetic surgery at inexpensive costs.

A physician at St. David’s Medical Heart in Austin wrote in Palko’s medical file: “Sadly affected person has had postoperative issues from a doctor who’s well-known to our emergency division for comparable post-op issues related to beauty surgical procedure by means of MIA (sic) Aesthetics,” in line with the go well with.

Palko is one in every of 5 Texas girls who sued Charepoo and Mia Aesthetics for malpractice this yr, between mid-July and the top of November, court docket data present.

4 girls allege the surgeon and the corporate did not adequately deal with infections that developed after surgical procedure, whereas the fifth alleged different issues. Mia Aesthetics was dismissed from one case. The surgeon and the corporate have denied the allegations in court docket filings, court docket data present.

Charepoo additionally has been the topic of a prolonged investigation by the Texas Medical Board, which licenses medical doctors.

In August 2021, the board alleged that the surgeon “failed to satisfy the requirements of care” in treating six sufferers, together with one he positioned “in danger” by permitting the affected person to depart the surgical procedure middle for the emergency room in a non-public automobile after the particular person “skilled vital hypotension and hemorrhagic shock.”

In October 2024, the medical board discovered that Charepoo had failed to satisfy requirements of take care of 5 of the six sufferers. The board required him to have a surgical proctor oversee 20 of his operations per quarter for 2 years. The board additionally ordered him to take medical training programs, move an examination, and pay a high-quality of $4,000.

Charepoo is preventing the order in court docket. Charepoo, Mia Aesthetics, and legal professionals representing Charepoo and the corporate didn’t reply to requests for remark.

In January, he sued the Texas Medical Board, arguing the penalty is “each extreme and unjustified” and must be invalidated. The medical board declined to touch upon the go well with, which is pending in Travis County District Court docket.

Listening to of the surgeon’s issues got here as a shock to affected person Palko, who stated she had chosen Mia Aesthetics due to advertisements promising high-quality medical doctors.

“I felt so disgusted, indignant, and betrayed,” Palko stated in an e-mail despatched by means of her lawyer.

Have you ever had liposuction, a “Mommy Makeover,” a tummy tuck, a Brazilian butt raise, or one other kind of beauty surgical procedure? We’d like to listen to about your expertise. Click on right here to contact our reporting crew.

KFF Well being Information is a nationwide newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about well being points and is without doubt one of the core working applications at KFF—an unbiased supply of well being coverage analysis, polling, and journalism. Be taught extra about KFF.