New York transgender woman dies after Brazilian butt-lift surgery in Miami goes horribly wrong
MIAMI, FLORIDA: A transgender’s dream of having a bigger butt went horribly wrong as a plastic surgery procedure killed her. Gia Romualdo-Rodriguez died this week after undergoing Brazilian butt-lift surgery at the Xiluet clinic in Miami, which also specializes in breast enhancements and tummy tucks. The 46-year-old was a native of New York and had traveled to Miami for the surgery. However, when during the procedure, her oxygen levels and heart rate plunged, Dr Stephanie Stover, who was doing the operation, called 911. Romualdo-Rodriguez was soon shifted to Kendall Regional Hospital, where she was declared dead. Her death was ruled an accident due to an embolism caused by fat injected into her buttocks, the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner’s Office said on Thursday, September 17.
After Romualdo-Rodriguez’s death, her friends remembered her as a notable person in New York City’s transgender community. She was working with outreach groups like Make the Road New York and Colectivo Intercultural Transgrediendo. One of her friends, 37-year-old Liz Chavez, said she was originally from Mexico, but lived in America for twenty years. “She had always felt like a girl, from an early age. She struggled a lot with discrimination from her family that didn’t want to accept it. For people in Mexico, it’s really hard to be transgender,” Chavez told The Miami Herald.
It has been said that the transgender woman was recently given asylum to remain in the US. A sex-worker by profession, Romualdo-Rodriguez had to sweat a lot to shed extra pounds and was thrilled to go Miami for her surgeries. Her friend added: “She was so confident in herself. She was so beautiful. She was living her best life.”
According to reports, the death of Romualdo-Rodriguez was the latest Brazilian butt-lift death in Miami. In the past decade, around 20 people, most of them in Miami, have lost their lives due to the complications that arose from the procedure. The serious risk associated with the surgery forced the Florida Board of Medicine in 2019 to set new restrictions for surgeons. The new order has restricted surgeons from injecting fat into or below a patient’s gluteal muscles. However, they are allowed to insert the fat above the muscle and below the skin.
Despite the new rule into effect, around three people have died due to fat-clot, Dr. Onelio Garcia, a plastic surgeon from Miami, who helps medical examiners on these cases, said. “We have sent out all kinds of notifications to plastic surgeons about what they need to do stay safe — more importantly, what they shouldn’t do,” Garcia, who is also a member of the Florida Society of Plastic Surgeons, added. Florida Society of Plastic Surgeons was the one that pushed for the new rule. An attorney with the society, Chris Nuland, said: “Make sure, as a patient, you research your surgeon and your facility and make sure you do not try to do too much on any one visit.”
In another incident, a woman died after suffering a blood clot following $9,000 worth plastic surgeries. The mother of three, Louise Harvey, had not been given the right medication to help prevent and stop blood clots after her surgery, the Norfolk Coroner's Court heard. The Coroner was also told there was a delay in her getting the medication and a prescription for the second dose had not been administered.