A Cork woman died after developing a flesh eating infection following a routine liposuction procedure in the US.
Mary Ryan (57) originally from Youghal, Co Cork, had liposuction at a clinic in Florida last December, days before she was due to travel home for Christmas. The procedure to remove fat from on her abdomen, neck and jowls, was carried out at the Mesos Clinic in Lady Lake on December 19th last.
The inquest heard that around 11 litres of fat tissue was drawn out of her body. Mrs Ryan had a history of heart problems and had a triple by-pass 18 months before the liposuction.
She reported feeling ill in the days after the procedure and saw her GP on December 20th but declined to meet him again on December 23rd as she had too much to do before she flew home to Ireland on December 24th.
Her GP, Dr Josef Khoder advised her to take the recommended medicines prescribed to her but a breakdown in communication meant Mrs Ryan did not receive them.
She arrived at her son Ian Ryan’s house in Cork on December 26th.
“The minute I saw her she went straight upstairs, she didn’t even say hello, which was unusual because she would normally say hi or give some greeting,” her son said.
“When I went upstairs, she was in serious pain, her abdomen looked battered and bruised,” he said.
The family brought Mrs Ryan to Cork University Hospital where she was admitted with “significant abdominal pain”.
On December 27th, doctors at CUH diagnosed creeping necrotising fasciitis, a rare flesh-eating infection.
The infection had attacked the layers of skin below the surface on her stomach and the following day, doctors cut away a large portion of her abdomen to contain it. But Ms Ryan’s condition continued to deteriorate, she became critically unwell and her kidneys began to fail.
She died at 7.20pm on December 29th, ten days after the liposuction operation in Florida.
Assistant state pathologist Dr Margot Bolster said necrotising fasciitis was a well-recognised complication of a liposuction procedure.
“The public perception of liposuction as a minor procedure fails to recognise the complications and possibly fatal outcomes,” Dr Bolster said.
Returning a verdict of medical misadventure, coroner Dr Myra Cullinane said the death of Mrs Ryan followed a tragic sequence of events.
“Liposuction is not an entirely innocuous procedure and is not without its potential difficulties. This is a well recognised potential side effect, but it is very rare. She was very unfortunate,” Dr Cullinane said.