Cosmetic Surgery Patient Left with Rotting Skin To Get $13M

A woman from Washington state has been granted $13 million in a lawsuit after several plastic surgeries that went wrong.

The patient, Nasra Elmi, underwent multiple cosmetic surgeries despite being a poor candidate for the surgeries due to her diabetes, which led to severe injuries, according to a statement from the patient's attorneys.

Kristine Brecht, a cosmetic surgeon at "exclusive surgical office" Aesthetic Rejuvenation & Spa, performed liposuction on multiple locations on Elmi's body, as well as a full tummy tuck, arm lift, and breast lift on the patient over the course of two days.

The lawsuit states that Brecht did not screen the patient for how well-controlled her diabetes was, warn the patient that her diabetes may risk skin necrosis and issues with healing, or address post-surgical infections at the operation sites.

Diabetes can lead to poor circulation, which means that extremities and other body parts have a lower flow of blood to them. This can lead to slower healing and less immune response, and as a result, can result in wounds becoming infected much easier. Often, diabetics end up needing toes or feet amputated due to non-healing wounds or ulcers: around 73,000 amputations of the lower limb not relating to trauma are performed on diabetics in the U.S. each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Pictures of Elmi's wounds in the lawsuit statement show how her stomach and arm skin became necrotized from infections in the days following the surgery. The lawsuit also says that too much skin was cut off during the surgeries, leading to excessive scarring on the patient.

Additionally, rather than using general anesthesia during the surgery, Brecht used a cocktail of oral sedatives including oxycodone and lorazepam, which the lawsuit states caused memory loss in the patient. Handcuffs and weights are also said in the lawsuit to have been used to restrain other patients during surgery.

Brecht also only checked the patient's vital signs every 15 minutes as opposed to the ideal 3- to 5-minute intervals and discharged the patient only 30 minutes after the surgery was completed.

After the surgery, when the patient raised concerns about her healing process and scarring, Brecht told her that her "unique" skin and "innate" healing issues were at fault and that she was simply a "slow healer."

Brecht claimed to have been trained in plastic surgery and was board certified, but it was found that she was in fact not eligible for board certification in any surgical specialty. Additionally, no other physician could vouch for the use of the anesthetic method—known as "Cinderella anesthesia"— she gave to Elmi.

"A lot of people don't realize that the medical profession is largely self-regulated, which makes it really hard for patients to figure out if their doctors are properly trained and competent until it is too late," Ruby Aliment, lead counsel for the plaintiffs and an attorney with Bergman Oslund Udo Little (BOUL), a Pacific Northwest law firm with a focus on catastrophic injury cases, told local media B-town Blog.

Elmi was awarded over $13 million by the jury, including $5 million for past damages, and $6 million for future losses. Brecht's license was also suspended.

"People judge you and don't understand the pain you are going through, and I was worried people would blame me for what happened," Elmi told the B-town Blog. "The jury's verdict was like a big weight being lifted off me, I am so grateful to them and my legal team, and I am relieved that justice has finally been served. Even though Dr. Brecht has no remorse, because of this jury I feel like I can finally close that book and try to move on with my life. I just hope that Dr. Brecht will never get to practice again and that she cannot go out and butcher someone else."

Do you have a tip on a science story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have a question about plastic surgery? Let us know via science@newsweek.com.