Family Pulls the Plug on Laser Lipo Patient
A healthy nurse dies after getting liposuction at a Weston Spa
By TODD WRIGHT
Updated 2:18 PM EDT, Tue, Oct 13, 2009
Rohie Kah Orukotan went to Weston Med Spa to lose a few pounds. But the healthy 37-year-old mother's pursuit of the perfect body wound up taking her life.
Orukotan was officially pronounced dead Oct. 9, according to JustNews.com, after spending the past two weeks in a coma because of what her family claims was a botched laser liposuction treatment at the hands of the staff at Weston Med Spa.
On Sept. 25, Orukotan suffered complications near the end of the lipo procedure and was rushed to the Cleveland Clinic, but the damage had already been done.
The procedure was performed by Dr. Omar Brito, but the Weston spa was not licensed to perform such surgeries.
Brito has a sketchy past with the state medical board. In 2006, Brito faced allegations he aided in the unlicensed practice of medicine. He reached a settlement and the Florida Board of Medicine fined him $5,000, ordered him to complete 200 hours of community service and attend training classes.
Brito claims he has done nothing wrong and has been cooperating with police.
Orukotan's family attorney said the injuries she sustained were consistent with a much more intrusive liposuction than cosmetic laser lipo and possibly was a full liposuction.
Soon after, doctors told her family that she was clinically dead and that the hospital machines were all that were sustaining Orukotan. It took several weeks for the family to make the difficult decision to pull the plug.
The Broward Sheriff's Office has already opened an investigation in the matter, but opted not to call it a homicide because Orukotan had not officially died. With the body now at the Medical Examiner's Office, investigators will await toxicology results and an autopsy to get a determination on what caused Orukotan's death.
First Published: Oct 13, 2009 12:45 PM EDT
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