Plastic surgery complications cost Miami-Dade taxpayers over $600,000

For almost a decade, the NBC6 Investigators have been documenting complications and deaths related to popular plastic surgery procedures at different clinics and outpatient surgery centers in South Florida. Many of these patients end up in public hospitals for these complications which means it's often taxpayers who pay their medical bills.

Linda Perez knows all too well how costly plastic surgery procedure complications can be. She was in a coma following a breast augmentation procedure and now has permanent brain damage that requires a lifetime of expensive therapy.

Heather Meadow’s children suffered a devastating loss after she died following a Brazilian Butt lift procedure, or BBL. The West Virginia woman traveled to Miami for the surgery.

Loyda Hernandez from Kissimmee says complications from a BBL she had in Miami left her fighting for her life and racking up a huge hospital bill.

“I have about half a million dollars in medical bills,” she said.

Her lawyer, Peter Sotolongo, said outpatient plastic surgery centers make a lot of money off their patients but waive responsibility when something goes wrong after they are discharged.

“There’s a crisis in plastic surgery in Miami-Dade County. People are coming here from all over the country and all over the world for plastic surgery,” Sotolongo said.

Dr. Christopher Salgado, a board-certified plastic surgeon, spent years working at local hospitals and caring for patients with complications from plastic surgeries performed at outpatient surgical centers.

“At times I've had four or five patients that have had complications from plastic surgery procedures in these facilities end up in these hospitals. What happens at that point is that a lot of these patients may not be insured. About 90% of them don't even live in Florida,” Dr. Salgado said.

According to Dr. Salgado, the complications he saw were often not covered by medical insurance companies because they are elective procedures. 

“The complications end up in many of our hospitals, not only UM Jackson, where I worked for ten years, but also in a lot of hospitals that are community hospitals,” he said.

Christina Masvidal is a critical care nurse who’s now Jackson Health System’s Senior Director of Risk Management and Patient Safety. 

“When they show up to Jackson, when they present to us because of a complication that is coming out of the pockets of Miami-Dade residents,” she explained.

According to Jackson Health System’s records, between September 2021 and January of this year, Jackson received 273 patients with complications from plastic surgeries performed in local plastic surgery centers. Of those, only 5% were Miami-Dade residents, 25% were from other parts of the state and 70% didn’t even live in Florida.

Their records show the total cost of treatment for all the patients was $7,690,897. After adjustments and reimbursements, the hospital or taxpayers lost $629,807 that couldn’t be collected.

“There are implications far beyond just taking a hospital bed. They are using up blood products…our Miami-Dade residents are the ones that are supplying our blood banks,” Masdival said.

Masvidal said Jackson doesn’t focus on money — they prioritize patient care, but she is concerned about the lack of post-operative care these plastic surgical centers offer. She said she’s reported all 273 cases to the Health Department because she believes these complications need to be investigated.