Infection ate woman’s flesh after liposuction

A US-based Irishwoman who had liposuction in Florida died from an aggressive flesh-eating infection days later while on a Christmas trip home.

And Cork City Coroner’s Court heard yesterday how Mary Ryan, 57, from Youghal, Co Cork, never got antibiotics after the surgery due to a communications breakdown between the clinic and the pharmacy.

Ms Ryan, who was living in Florida with her husband, Jimmy, died at Cork University Hospital on Dec 29, 2012, from the aggressive necrotising fasciitis disease — a deep soft-tissue infection which effectively eats flesh — just 10 days after undergoing the cosmetic surgery in the States.

Assistant state pathologist Dr Margot Bolster said the cause of death was shock and sepsis due to necrotising fasciitis, following a recent liposuction, associated with severe heart disease.

She said the public perception of liposuction as a “minor procedure” fails to recognise the serious complications and possible fatal outcomes associated with the procedure.

The infection is one of the most common side-effects associated with the liposuction, alongside gangrene and sepsis, she said.

Coroner Dr Myra Cullinane recorded a verdict of medical misadventure.

The inquest heard that Ms Ryan, who underwent heart bypass surgery a few months earlier, was given medical clearance by Dr Youssef Khodor to undergo laser liposuction to her abdomen and neck at the Mesos Cosmetic Surgery and Laser Centre in Ladylake, Florida on Dec 19 last.

In a report read in to the record, plastic surgeon Dr Todd Ginestra said Ms Ryan tolerated the procedure well and there were no complications.

He saw her the following day when she complained of pain and nausea but he said her incisions were clean and intact.

She was too unwell to see him on Dec 22 and he suggested she change her medication.

However, it emerged that a communications breakdown between the clinic and the pharmacy meant that Ms Ryan never got any painkillers or antibiotics.

The inquest was told that she required wheelchair assistance on to her flight from Orlando to Dublin on Dec 24, for a Christmas visit home, before she and her husband drove to Cork on Dec 26.

Their son, Ian, told the court he knew something was wrong when she arrived at his house that evening.

“She was literally a new woman after the bypass — she was doing very well.

“But when they arrived at my house that night, she went straight upstairs to my bed. She was lying down, she was in a serious bit of pain. She showed me her stomach. It was inflated. It looked battered and bruised.”

They were advised by SouthDoc to go straight to CUH where she was later found to have advanced necrotising fasciitis.

She underwent emergency surgery to remove a vast area of skin from her abdomen, but her condition remained critical.

Despite a barrage of antibiotics and further surgery, she died on Dec 29.

“This is such a very, very tragic sequence of events. Liposuction is not without its potential difficulties,” said Dr Bolster.

While the infection is a risk associated with liposuction, it was rare, she said.

Mr Ryan still lives in Florida.