Fred Schulte, KFF Health News
Lisa Farris frightened {that a} nasty an infection from latest liposuction and a tummy tuck was quickly getting worse. So she phoned the beauty surgical procedure heart 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 heart in Addison, Texas, advised her she “absolutely should not” go to the ER — despite the fact that Farris “had a large gush of foul fluid” leaking from the incision, in response to information within the malpractice case she filed in opposition to the beauty surgical procedure chain in 2024.
The nurse advised Farris she “only needed to reinforce her dressing to collect the fluid drainage and give it time,” filings within the lawsuit alleged.
“Thankfully, Ms. Farris did go to the ER where she was diagnosed with sepsis from her surgery complications,” a medical professional for her authorized group wrote in a court docket submitting. Left untreated, sepsis can result in loss of life.
Sono Bello officers declined to debate malpractice instances filed in opposition to the corporate, citing affected person privateness legal guidelines. But in court docket filings, the corporate has disputed Farris’ claims. The case is about for trial early subsequent 12 months.
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 offer 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 Health News investigation discovered.
In some instances, sufferers who traveled a whole bunch of miles or extra for seemingly routine surgical procedures allegedly suffered painful issues whereas recuperating in resort rooms or unlicensed “recovery homes,” which they stated lacked satisfactory medical employees and supervision, in response to court docket filings.
While issues, comparable 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 Health News reviewed.
The surgical procedure corporations concerned — some, like Sono Bello, financed by private equity investors — provide elective procedures comparable to liposuction and “Mommy Makeovers” to sufferers who pay 1000’s of {dollars} out-of-pocket or on credit score. Ads promise life-changing physique reshaping methods with minimal danger and quick recovery times.
Medical malpractice lawsuits have trailed behind the expansion of those corporations. Suits have accused the chains of hiring medical doctors who lacked adequate training or had troubled pasts, and of utilizing high-pressure gross sales ways and deceptive promoting pitches that downplay security dangers, court docket information present. The corporations dispute these allegations and have received dismissal of some fits.
Patrick Schaner, a plastic surgeon and a Sono Bello medical director, burdened that the corporate has carried out greater than 300,000 beauty operations with minimal issues. “That context is very important,” 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 a great job of getting safety protocols in place,” he stated.
Many sufferers who file lawsuits blame disfiguring accidents on what occurred after their operations, comparable to workplace visits by which medical employees allegedly didn’t acknowledge, or dismissed, proof of worsening surgical issues, court docket information present.
A nurse at a Sono Bello heart exterior Chicago allegedly didn’t alert medical doctors when Mary Anne Garcia, a affected person who had had liposuction on the heart 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 response to a lawsuit her property filed in September.
Rather than inform Garcia to go to an emergency room, the Sono Bello nurse advised her to “drink more fluids and try to eat something,” in response to the criticism.
Garcia died the subsequent day from cardiac arrest, in response to 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. Agency for International Development govt who spent twenty years engaged on AIDS tasks in Africa, died in a Washington, D.C., short-term residence final 12 months.
Her son Gavin discovered her physique May 13, 2024, 4 days after she had an AirSculpt liposuction and fats switch operation at Elite Body Sculpture in close by Vienna, Virginia, in response to a lawsuit filed in November.
“It was horrifying,” Gavin Easley advised KFF Health News in an interview. “My mother was the definition of kind, caring, and unconditionally loving. She was the most incredible woman I’ve ever known,” stated Easley, 29, who runs an natural farm in Arkansas together with his spouse.
The swimsuit 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 issues have been dismissed, the swimsuit alleges.
“When she called to report complications, they didn’t take it seriously,” stated Virginia legal professional Peter Anderson, who filed the swimsuit. He stated Easley introduced “clear signs and symptoms” of issues.
AirSculpt is a model of Elite Body Sculpture, a Miami Beach-based chain based by beauty surgeon Aaron Rollins. The firm, which is financed by personal 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 response to 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 Business
Sono Bello, with greater than 100 facilities nationwide, payments itself as “America’s #1 Cosmetic Surgery Specialist.”
Patients filed seven malpractice instances in opposition to 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 Health News and NBC News in regards to the firm. There “could be alignment” between the protection and the submitting of the fits, she stated. The firm has denied the allegations in court docket.
KFF Health News reviewed a pattern of greater than 100 medical malpractice instances filed in opposition to 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 evaluate medical high quality.
Heather Faulkner, a plastic surgeon and affiliate professor at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, stated surgeons should shortly acknowledge signs of infection earlier than they progress and change into severe, even life-threatening situations.
At Emory, she stated, surgeons should attend their sufferers’ first go to after beauty surgical procedure. “Ultimately, the physician is the one responsible,” she stated. “The patient has to be seen by the person who did the operation and knows how to recognize something is wrong,” Faulkner stated in an interview.
Patients 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. While nurses see some sufferers, the “ultimate decision-making is passed to the surgeon,” he stated.
Five 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 information present. The instances are pending.
Schaner stated Sono Bello generally has sufferers submit images of wounds however the pictures are “not the sole means of triage” of affected person accidents or issues.
Joshua Kiernan sued Sono Bello after having liposuction on May 28, 2024, on the department in Columbia, South Carolina. On June 8, 2024, he stumbled and fell in a gymnasium parking zone, inflicting drainage across the incision in his abdomen, in response to the swimsuit. On June 17, 2024, Kiernan visited the workplace complaining of “redness and pain” across the incision, in response to his swimsuit.
The surgeon, Stancie Rhodes, didn’t study him in particular person however had an workplace employees member take an image “so that she could view it from another part of the office,” in response to the criticism.
The surgeon despatched again phrase that the photograph “looked fine,” and Kiernan was advised to take Tylenol for the ache and comply with up on the workplace per week later, the criticism alleged.
Two days earlier than his appointment, Kiernan required emergency hospital therapy for “abdominal hematoma and infection,” in response to the swimsuit.
Kiernan underwent six surgical procedures and ran up medical payments of greater than $325,000 to deal with his situation, in response to the swimsuit. In court docket filings, Sono Bello denied the allegations.
“Surgical care does not end at the last stitch,” stated Mark Domanski, a plastic surgeon in Virginia, who believes the chain clinics normally are more proficient at advertising and marketing than offering sufferers with top-notch care. “It involves postoperative visits with the surgeon who did the procedure, who is there to respond to the patient’s concerns, questions, especially if things are not going well,” he stated.
Recovery Houses
Many sufferers who journey for beauty surgical procedure, both to save cash or as a result of providers aren’t accessible of their space, can’t return residence instantly.
Yet there’s little settlement on the place sufferers ought to recuperate, for a way lengthy, and what medical providers must be available to them.
Scott Hollenbeck, instant previous president of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, stated legal guidelines or laws in most states don’t spell out necessities.
“This can create a wide variation of oversight, staff qualifications, and available medical support,” he stated.
The cosmetic surgery society has warned against a cottage trade of restoration homes that always cost sufferers a whole bunch of {dollars} an evening whereas they recuperate, despite the fact that they might lack medical employees able to dealing with doable surgical issues.
Court filings in Florida present sufferers staying in restoration homes and lodges have died or suffered untreated issues, principally in South Florida, the place officers have struggled for a decade or extra to manage unlicensed services. One native lawmaker not too long ago filed a bill to rein them in.
Hollenbeck stated sufferers who recuperate in a resort or different facility want to search out out prematurely what “level of care” shall be accessible. He stated advertisements touting “luxury” lodging or “conveniently located” don’t make a resort “clinically qualified to provide recovery care.”
Easley, whose mom died in Washington, D.C., stated he’s struggling to know what occurred after a medical transportation service took her from the Virginia surgical procedure heart to a short lived 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. Army, “had so many plans” for the long run.
Susan Easley had been medically cleared for a new assignment in Africa. After that, she deliberate to retire and begin a farm in Tanzania, amongst different issues, in response to her son.
The lawsuit alleges the surgical procedure heart discharged her prematurely given indicators of a harmful situation referred to as local anesthetic systemic toxicity attributable to an overdose of lidocaine.
Susan Easley referred to as the surgical procedure heart that day and reported “multiple instances of nausea and vomiting,” however there’s “no evidence” that anybody advised her to go to an emergency room, in response to the swimsuit.
“I don’t know what they said to her,” Gavin Easley stated. “It’s a horrifying thought for me. I have no idea how to get to the bottom of that mystery.”
‘Preventable Death’
Some lawsuits take purpose at selections made by assist employees members, who assist monitor sufferers after surgical procedure.
That’s a crucial concern within the case of Mary Anne Garcia, the Illinois lady 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 response to the swimsuit. She additionally had a fast heartbeat and low blood stress, in response to the criticism. But registered nurse Lucia Raddatz didn’t notify the surgeon or urge Garcia to hunt emergency care despite the fact that Raddatz had to assist her again to the automobile in a wheelchair attributable to Garcia’s “severely weakened condition,” in response to the swimsuit.
Filed on behalf of Garcia’s property, the swimsuit 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 received care which would have avoided her death,” court docket information 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 accessible for consultations.
“There is not one colleague of mine who has not dealt with the complications of these types of facilities or med spas on more than one occasion,” stated Charles Pierce, president-elect of the New Jersey Society of Plastic Surgeons.
‘Angry and Betrayed’
Doctors at an Austin, Texas, hospital expressed such frustration whereas caring for Anna Palko, a 33-year-old mom of 4, in response to a malpractice swimsuit she filed in November in opposition to 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 quality of plastic surgery at affordable prices.
A health care provider at St. David’s Medical Center in Austin wrote in Palko’s medical document: “Unfortunately patient has had postoperative complications from a physician who is well-known to our emergency department for similar post-op complications associated with cosmetic surgery through MIA (sic) Aesthetics,” in response to the swimsuit.
Palko is one in every of 5 Texas girls who sued Charepoo and Mia Aesthetics for malpractice this 12 months, between mid-July and the tip of November, court docket information present.
Four girls allege the surgeon and the corporate didn’t 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 information 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 meet the standards of care” in treating six sufferers, together with one he positioned “at risk” by permitting the affected person to depart the surgical procedure heart for the emergency room in a personal automobile after the particular person “experienced significant hypotension and hemorrhagic shock.”
In October 2024, the medical board discovered that Charepoo had failed to fulfill 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 schooling programs, move an examination, and pay a fantastic of $4,000.
Charepoo is combating 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 “both excessive and unjustified” and must be invalidated. The medical board declined to touch upon the swimsuit, which is pending in Travis County District Court.
Hearing 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, angry, and betrayed,” Palko stated in an e-mail despatched by means of her legal professional.
Have you had liposuction, a “Mommy Makeover,” a tummy tuck, a Brazilian butt elevate, or one other kind of beauty surgical procedure? We’d like to listen to about your expertise. Click here to contact our reporting group.
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