Dying to be beautiful
With details of a recent cosmetic surgery-related death still unfolding, we recall other news-making fatalities that have been linked to the quest for the perfect body.
Claudia Seye Aderotimi
Twenty-year-old Aderotimi, a Londoner visiting the States, died February 8 of complications stemming from an unlicensed cosmetic procedure performed in an unorthodox setting. Aderotimi was said to have paid more than $1,000 for the procedure. Police are searching for a suspect whose background is musical, not medical.
Lidvian Zelaya
At the end of December 2010, 35-year-old Zelaya died of cardiac arrest after checking in for two procedures at a Southern Florida facility. The exact cause of death is still unknown.
Wang Bei
Chinese singer Wang Bei, 24, suffered respiratory and circulatory failure in November 2010 after she reportedly sought a facial enhancement. She came into the public eye as a contestant of an American Idol-style show. The exact cause of death is swamped in rumors.
Solange Magnano
In 2009, the former South American beauty queen, modeling agency head and mother died of a pulmonary embolism at age 37. Her death was linked to gluteoplasty.
Rohie Kah-Orukotan
This 37-year-old mother of three — who was no stranger to medical practice — went to a Florida facility for liposuction in 2009. There, she experienced seizures and was rushed to a hospital, with disastrous results.
Maritess Lopez
Lopez died at age 36 after obtaining a "mommy makeover" in 2008. Her Virginia Beach doctor released her an hour after the procedure, but she began experiencing adverse side effects at home.
Donda West
The death of this scholar and mother of a hip-hop star made huge headlines in 2007. The 58-year-old had gone to a high profile surgeon to have a tummy tuck and breast reduction and died of a heart attack the next day. Though the procedure may have played a role in her death, the coroner ruled out wrongdoing.
Olga Arroyo
In 2007, 41-year-old Arroyo, a New Jersey police officer, underwent plastic surgery in a private home at the hands of an unlicensed Colombian native. She died on the scene from a fatal injection.
Kathleen Kelly Cregan
In 2005, Cregan secretly traveled from her home abroad, with the intent of surprising her husband with a new look given by a New York City doctor. (How did she hear of him?) She went into cardiac arrest hours after the procedure and died at age 42.
Olivia Goldsmith
The best-selling author of this book-turned-film checked into a Manhattan clinic in 2004. Goldsmith wanted a chin-tuck — one of many procedures she'd sought from the same doctor — but went into a coma shortly after the surgery began and died several days later at age 54.
Susan Malitz
In 2004, 56-year-old Malitz checked into a scandal-plagued New York hospital to undergo a routine facelift from a top doctor. As the Connecticut woman was being prepped for surgery, she went into cardiac arrest and died shortly thereafter.
Julie Rubenzer
Rubenzer, 38, went to a Florida-based doctor in search of a breast augmentation in 2003. There were many red flags, including the doctor's training, certification and lack of medical privileges. The patient stopped breathing, went into cardiac arrest, never regained consciousness and was taken to her hometown, where she died three months later.
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