Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic – 13th May, 2019: Authorities are investigating after a woman died last Thursday during pre-op plastic surgery at a clinic in the Dominican Republic where Cardi B was once supposed to undergo an operation with the same doctor.
Altagracia Díaz, 51, was scheduled for a breast reduction surgery and to have built-up fluid removed from under her skin at the International Center for Advanced Plastic Surgery [CIPLA] in Santo Domingo.
Her concerned daughter Yatnna Rivera refused to support her mother's plan for surgery because of her age and told her she was better off controlling her appetite.
But Diaz vowed to go ahead with the surgical work, which she said she needed as a result of a liposuction surgery about three years ago.
After several hours of waiting at the clinic, Rivera was told that her mother had died due to complications she suffered as a result of an 'unexpected event.'
Rivera told Dominican television station Antena 7, that the doctors told her that her mother had gone into cardiac arrest.
Rivera later took to her live Instagram to demand answers from surgeon Dr. Hector Cabral after she spent hours begging doctors to allow her to see her mother in the intensive care unit.
She then saw her mother lying on a bed with tubes sticking out of her mouth shortly after a doctor told her that Díaz has suffered a heart attack.
'She was dead. They were lying, searching for an excuse to look good,' Rivera said.
'The mocked me in front of my face telling me that she was ok.'
Rivera and her family are accusing the doctor of medical malpractice
Cabral met with the local press on Friday but offered few details on the events that led up to Díaz's death.
'At the beginning of the procedure [Díaz] had an unexpected event in which the interventionists, anesthesiologists and intensive [care doctors] and other professionals ... made all the human effort to conjure the situation in a successful manner, so that it was possible to restore the vital signs of the patient and send her to the intensive care unit, where she was received in stable conditions, Cabral said.
Cabral said Díaz was doing well for a period of five hours before she encountered another setback from which she 'unfortunately could not recover.'
The doctor also denied rumors that he tried to flee the country.
Cardi B went live on her Instagram account to offer her condolence to Díaz's family and shared her own experience with Cabral, who she had previously scheduled a surgery with before backing out.
'I was once going to operate with him, but I had a feeling and I did it with another doctor,' the Grammy Award-winning rapper said.
'You realize that when God opens your eyes it is for a reason. ... I am sad and it hurts because I know that the family is very hurt right now, but it could be my family that was suffering. This was like God giving me a sign.'
Díaz is one of a series of women who have died at the same Dominican Republic clinic while undergoing cosmetic surgery.
In July 2018, Katherine Jacqueline Pérez Minaya traveled from the U.S. to Cabral's clinic and suffered a deadly heart attack during surgery.
In 2017, at least four women also died during surgeries with Cabral at the same clinic.
The clinic has been shut down on numerous occasions due to allegations of faulty procedures which have caused deaths, before reopening.
Cabral was arrested in 2011 in New York City accused of soliciting women at beauty salons and inviting them to the Dominican Republic for consultations at the clinic.
He was charged with 10 counts of the unauthorized practice of medicine but the attorney general reached a deal with Cabral before the case ever appeared before a judge and jury.
He was given 250 hours of community service - which were served in the Dominican Republic - a $5,000 fine and was ordered to pay $23,055 in restitution.
Díaz was laid to rest during a private service on Saturday.
The Dominican Republic's Public Health Ministry has assigned a special commission to look into Díaz's death.
Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7023613/Woman-dies-plastic-surgery-clinic-Dominican-Republic.html