Family of Brit beautician who died after £6k Majorca boob job ‘were told of botched op by rogue clinic on Instagram’
THE FAMILY of a Brit beautician who died after a botched op in Majorca have shared the agonising ordeal they were put through by the clinic.
A source close to the beautician revealed that the surgeon, who had no next-of-kin details, chose to break the news to a friend via Instagram messenger.
Donna Butterfield, 30, from Wrexham, had a boob job performed by the same surgeon several years ago but had returned to have an imbalance corrected, according to her relatives.
But after flying back to Spain in September last year, It is thought that Donna, who had a pre-existing heart condition, had a fatal reaction to the anaesthetic sparking a heart attack.
After being admitted to intensive care for almost two weeks, the Brit died on September 13 as a result of the injuries she suffered during her cardiac arrest.
Donna’s family revealed that all the preceding consultations had been conducted by email, and claimed that very little precaution had been taken by the clinic beforehand.
They also said that when they flew out to the clinic, which has now been named as Clinica Luz, Palma, they were given a confused account by the surgeon.
Donna’s friends said that the surgeon appeared nervous, and conflicted and could not explain what exactly went wrong.
Anaesthetist Mateo Verd Vallespir has been arrested over Donna’s death while in prison for the manslaughter of another patient.
Police confirmed that he had previously been handed a medical ban but had been continuing to operate.
It is understood that the emergency services who responded to the call were shocked by the condition Donna was in and that CPR had not been properly administered, according to a police report.
Although the paramedics rushed Donna to Son Espases Hospital, where she was put into an induced coma, it was not enough to save her.
The young Brit suffered serious brain damage while in cardiac arrest, and she was unable to recover.
Donna’s family, including her mother, step-father and brother flew to Majorca to be with her – while her brother also set up a GoFundMe to bring her home.
The GoFundMe read: “Our beautiful Donna Bee is in severe condition and is fighting for her life, It’s really hard for us to go into details fully because a lot has happened and it will all go under investigation.
“She went into surgery and had a heart attack during and then reaction from the anaesthetic and went into a cardiac arrest followed by a coma and she’s now in an induced coma on life support.
“She’s had a CT scan and has severe brain damage. She is slowly now being taken off the medication to see if she can cope alone.
“Either way the outcome we need to get our baby girl home, she is in the hospital in Palma, Mallorca.
“Her family are now over there by her side, as close friends to Donna we want to do everything we can to help her and her family in any way possible in these extremely difficult times.”
Unfortunately, their efforts were in vain, and Donna tragically passed just under two weeks later.
The revelations come just hours after the National Police in Majorca arrested the director of the clinic.
A spokesman for the force said: “National Police officers have arrested a 69-year-old man responsible for managing a clinic in Palma where he also worked as a practitioner, for crimes of gross negligence manslaughter and breaching a medical ban following the death of a patient.
“Our homicide unit began an investigation and after gathering together all the documentation related to the medical intervention and taking statements from health professionals, arrested the director of the clinic who was also a medical practitioner.
“Investigators have accused one of the other two health professionals who participated in the surgery of the same type of manslaughter crime as the clinic director.
“The other man cannot be accused of any crime due to his sudden death two months after the surgery.”
Botched op
According to the National Police, the procedure involved several irregularities.
One of which was that the health professionals agreed to practice a second cosmetic procedure without warning or properly informing the patient of the risks.
It has also since been revealed that the patient went into cardiac arrest when the clinicians were preparing to perform the second op.
The Police went on to say that the signed patient consent forms were written in Spanish and, according to the British woman’s family, the patient didn’t know how to read Spanish.
Confirming that the director’s arrest happened in prison, the spokesman added: “The practitioner who was arrested was in prison for another issue related to the exercising of his profession.
“Officers had to ask for his release from prison so he could be informed of this new charge before he was returned to jail afterwards.
“He had been disqualified from practising medicine and holding positions of responsibility in health centres and despite that ignored the ban to take part in the surgery the dead woman underwent.”
Risks of plastic surgery overseas
Overseas surgeons are not subject to the same rules, regulations and training as doctors in the UK.
That means you can’t guarantee the safety of the equipment or material they are using.
Unsterile equipment dramatically increases your risk of infection, which could lead to necrotising fasciitis (flesh-eating bugs), sepsis or even death.
On top of that, if you are opting for fillers or injections anywhere on the body there is no way of knowing if doctors are using dangerous substances.
Cosmetic surgeons have warned against cut-price surgery as there is a real risk you will be injected with “unsafe substances”.
Prof Ash Mosahebi, honorary secretary of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons’ (BAAPS), said most patients either opt for cheap injections or implants to boost their bum and boobs.
“If they are having injections then god knows what they are being injected with, if it is safe, or if it is sterile,” he told The Sun Online.
“Oil, for example, does make it look bigger for a few days but then it deflates and it’s likely infection like sepsis can kick in.
“I know of silicone oil being used, which shouldn’t be used for medical purposes.
“I’ve heard of cement but I haven’t seen it myself, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s things like that.
“Most of the time the injections end up having a lot of bacteria in them as well because they aren’t sterile.”