A British beautician has tragically died after undergoing surgery in Spain.
Donna Butterfield, 30, from Wrexham, north Wales, underwent breast augmentation several years ago but returned to have an imbalance corrected, costing her more than $6,480.30 (USD), according to those close to him.
She returned to Majorca, in Spain’s Balearic Islands, in September last year.
Butterfield, who already suffered from a heart condition, is believed to have had a fatal reaction to the anesthetic, triggering a heart attack.
After being admitted to intensive care for almost two weeks, she died on September 13.
Butterfield’s family revealed that all previous consultations had been conducted by email and claimed that very few precautions had been taken beforehand by the clinic.
They also said that when they went to the clinic, the surgeon gave them a confusing account.
Butterfield’s friends said the surgeon seemed nervous, conflicted and couldn’t explain exactly what was wrong.
An anesthetist already in prison for the manslaughter of another patient has been arrested following Ms Butterfield’s death.
Police confirmed he had previously been placed on a medical ban but continued to operate.
Despite the ban, he took part in the Butterfield operation last September before beginning his prison sentence.
It is understood that emergency services who responded to the call were shocked by the state Butterfield was in and that CPR had not been properly administered, according to a police report.
The young Briton suffered serious brain damage during a cardiac arrest and was unable to recover.
Butterfield’s family, including her mother, stepfather and brother, flew to Majorca to be with her – while her brother also set up a GoFundMe to bring her home.
The GoFundMe said Butterfield suffered a reaction to the anesthetic and suffered cardiac arrest followed by a coma.
He added that a CT scan revealed serious brain damage.
“Her family is now by her side, as Donna’s close friends we want to do everything we can to help her and her family in any way we can during these extremely difficult times.” we read on GoFundMe.
Unfortunately, their efforts were in vain and Butterfield tragically died just under two weeks later.
These revelations come just hours after Spanish national police in Mallorca arrested the clinic director.
A police spokesperson said: “National Police officers arrested a 69-year-old man, responsible for running a clinic in Palma where he also worked as a doctor, for the offenses of homicide by gross negligence and violation of a medical ban following the death of a patient.
“Our homicide unit opened an investigation and after gathering all the documentation relating to the medical intervention and taking statements from medical professionals, it arrested the director of the clinic who was also a doctor.”
“Investigators charged one of the two other health professionals who participated in the operation with the same type of manslaughter as the clinic director.”
“The other man cannot be charged with any crime due to his sudden death two months after the operation.”
According to the National Police, the procedure contained several irregularities.
One was that medical professionals agreed to perform a second cosmetic procedure without warning or properly informing the patient of the risks.
It has also since been revealed that the patient suffered a cardiac arrest as clinicians prepared to carry out the second operation.
Police added that the patient’s signed consent forms were written in Spanish and that, according to the British woman’s family, the patient could not read Spanish.
Confirming that the director’s arrest took place in prison, the spokesperson added: “The arrested practitioner was in prison for another problem related to the exercise of his profession.
“Officers had to request his release from prison so that he could be informed of this new charge before he was subsequently returned to prison.”
“He had been banned from practicing medicine and holding positions of responsibility in health centers and, despite this, he had ignored the ban on participating in the surgical operation undergone by the deceased.”
New York Post
