A Tennessee mother of five died after having a Brazilian butt lift was performed by a Miami doctor who was allegedly not allowed to operate on patients, according to a lawsuit filed by the woman’s family.
Erica Russell, 33, traveled to the Seduction Cosmetic Center facility in Coral Gables, Florida in June 2021 to undergo the cosmetic procedure. During the procedure, her doctor, John Sampson, punctured her liver, bladder and intestines with a cannula, a tube used primarily to remove fluid from the body, according to the lawsuit, filed Monday in Miami-Dade County Court.
Just over two hours after the procedure began, Russell went into cardiac arrest and died.
The lawsuit says her cause of death was determined to be pulmonary fat embolism and bleeding due to liposuction and bilateral buttock augmentation surgery.
Attorneys representing Russell’s family said Sampson was not allowed to have surgeries at the facility and alleged that Seduction provided Russell with falsified documents that said he “had plastic and cosmetic privileges” at a local hospital when he did not.
They also accused Seduction of falsely marketing Sampson “as a surgeon performing surgery at her facility.”
Seduction Cosmetic Center Corp. and Sampson, both named as defendants in the suit, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday. Seduction President and CEO Gretel Jardon could not be reached at the phone numbers listed for her. Jardon is not named as a defendant.
The lawsuit says that in May 2020, Seduction filed with the Florida Department of Health, listing Sampson as its “designated physician” and not listing him as a surgeon. Sampson’s responsibilities, according to the lawsuit, were to ensure the facility complied with all applicable health and safety standards and requirements.
In June 2020, Sampson gave the state Department of Health a letter “specifically stating” that he “does not perform surgeries at defendant Seduction’s facilities” in Coral Gable, the suit alleges.
“At all times material to the present, Defendant Sampson was not authorized to perform surgical procedures on Seduction,” the lawsuit states. “Despite the fact that, between April 2021 and June 2021, Defendant Sampson performed plastic surgery on Defendant Seduction.”
On June 16, 2021, according to the lawsuit, Sampson performed procedures on seven patients, including Russell. He says his first surgery was at 6:32 am. and that he began operating on Russell at 8:31 p.m., after a nearly 14-hour shift.
As of September 2022, Sampson is “permanently restricted from performing buttock fat grafting procedures” and “serving as a designated physician of an office surgery center” regulated by the Department of Health, according to order issued by the Ministry of Health after a disciplinary case.
Russell’s lawyers said the department’s decision was “a (very) small step in the right direction.
“We should not accept this type of behavior in our community. Our company looks forward to this case moving forward and holding these defendants accountable for their actions,” they told the Facebook.
A Brazilian butt lift, or BBL, is a procedure in which a doctor transfers fat from the patient’s stomach, hips, waist, or thighs to the patient’s buttocks. It is performed in two steps: The doctor removes the fat using liposuction and then injects the fat into the buttock area.
WebMD says that BBLs are generally safer than other procedures to change the appearance of a patient’s rear, but they are still dangerous and can be fatal. A January report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says 93 American citizens died as a result of cosmetic surgery in the Dominican Republic from 2009 to 2022.
Fatal cases reviewed involved liposuction and 92% involved buttock fat transfer or BBLs.
