A mom died following a botched horror plastic surgery operation after an inept surgeon left her “unconscious.”
Megan Espinoza, 36, went for a breast augmentation at Divino Surgery Center in Bonita, California, just before the holiday season of 2018. Prosecutors allege that nurse Heather Vass, who was not authorized to administer anesthesia, did so to the kindergarten teacher.
On December 19, 2018, around 2:20 pm, Megan suffered cardiac arrest during the procedure. Dr Carlos Chacon, the surgeon on duty, reportedly delayed calling emergency services for three hours, opting instead to seek advice from other doctors and attending to four different patients between 3:15 pm and 5:00 pm.
A probable cause warrant suggests that Dr Chacon instructed his staff not to call 911 and misled Megan’s husband, Moises, about the ongoing crisis. When emergency services were finally contacted, it was tragically too late; Megan was taken to the hospital in a coma and succumbed to her condition a month later on January 28, 2019.
Dr Carlos Chacon was sentenced to three years in prison (
Nurse Heather Vass gave the patient anesthesia even though she was not licensed to do so (
An autopsy concluded that Megan died from “ischemic encephalopathy […] caused by a lack of blood flow and oxygen to the brain.”, reports the Mirror.
Her grieving family pursued a wrongful death and medical malpractice lawsuit against both the surgeon and the surgery center, which was settled privately.
The South Bay surgeon and his nurse were sentenced on Friday in a shocking case. Surgeon Chacon received a three-year jail sentence after pleading guilty to manslaughter, and he is now permanently banned from practicing medicine in California.
His nurse, Vass, was handed a two-year prison sentence after admitting to involuntary manslaughter. As reported by Law and Crime, she has given up her nursing license but can apply for its reinstatement in the future.
Superior Court Judge Maryann D’Addezio expressed that the doctor’s delay in calling 911 was “unexplainable” and “unjustifiable”. She suggested that this delay indicated he had instructed Vass and other medical staff to administer anesthesia to Megan and other patients, despite their lack of qualifications.
Moises Espinoza lost his wife, the mother of his children (
KGTV-TV)
The judge also pointed out that an ambulance arriving at the clinic could have negatively impacted his business, especially with potential patients present.
Judge D’Addezio told the surgeon: “You thought about you and only you.” She further stated: “You violated your oath and trust.”
Before the sentencing, the remorseful doctor admitted his failures and expressed that he was “deeply, deeply sorry for the immense pain and suffering” he had caused to those who knew and loved Megan.
During his emotional statement, the woman’s husband Moises expressed that his family’s future was stolen by her death, saying of his sons: “They’ll never be able to understand the love a mother has.”
