An underlying heart condition ? not a problem in cosmetic surgery ? caused the death of a county commissioner's sister whose heart stopped on the operating table, according to an autopsy report released Wednesday.
Rony Wendrow had a progressive cardiac disease that caused the heart problem during neck and eyelid surgery at Strax Rejuvenation and Aesthetics Institute in Lauderhill on May 16, the autopsy found. She died three days later at Florida Medical Center.
The Broward County Medical Examiner's office did not find an excessive amount of anesthesia or any other complication from surgery that would explain the death of Wendrow, 61, the sister of County Commissioner Ilene Lieberman.
The report, by an associate of Medical Examiner Joshua Perper, said the findings on anesthesia were limited by the fact that Florida Medical Center did not take the first blood samples until 14 hours after the surgery began.
Despite the autopsy findings, Wendrow's family still has concerns about whether she received the correct amount of anesthesia, Lieberman said.
"The ME is saying he can't make a determination because the hospital did not take a blood sample until 14 hours after surgery," Lieberman said. "Fourteen hours is not a good sample to determine if someone was oversedated."
She declined to comment on how the family may proceed.
An attorney for Strax, Jay Chimpoulis, said he had not seen the autopsy report and had no immediate comment.
The surgeon, Dr. Harold Bass, said he felt the autopsy cleared him of any wrongdoing in the death of his patient, whom he had known for 23 years and operated on before. He said he knew nothing of her heart condition.
"I feel awful about her death. I feel a little better [that] I didn't do anything that caused it," Bass said. Like all surgeons operating at Strax, Bass is an independent contractor and not an employee.
Wendrow had been cleared in advance to have the procedures, the report said. No test detected the disease, which strikes about 1 in 5,000 Americans.
Wendrow had a rare cardiac condition in which the heart muscle is replaced by fat and fiber tissue that makes the heart weaker, the report said. The disease ? arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia ? mainly is inherited but can be caused by infection.
Bass had put Wendrow under semi-conscious sedation and started the surgery when her heart rate and blood pressure dropped sharply, the report said. Her heartbeat stopped for 10 minutes before paramedics restored it and took her to the hospital.
blamendola@tribune.com or 954-356-4526
No comments:
Post a Comment