Hong Kong woman dies after falling into coma during liposuction surgery in South Korea
- The surgery took place in one of the hundreds of plastic surgery clinics that dot Seoul’s pricey Gangnam neighbourhood
- Death’s during the typically low-risk procedure often involve complications with anaesthesia, president of Hong Kong plastic surgery body says
A 35-year-old Hong Kong woman died after falling into a coma during a liposuction procedure this week in a plastic surgery clinic in Seoul, South Korean police said Friday.
“The woman fell into a coma during a beauty operation on Tuesday. She was immediately transferred to a different hospital, where she was pronounced dead,” an officer at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency told the Post.
“Detectives in charge of medical accidents are all busy with this case,” he said, adding a postmortem examination will be conducted early next week to determine the cause of her death.
Dr Ho Chiu-ming, president of the Hong Kong Society of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons, said falling into a coma during liposuction, which is regarded as a relatively low-risk medical procedure, usually involves complications related to anaesthesia.
“It might involve allergic reactions or excessive dosage of drugs used in anaesthesia, causing a patient to stop breathing or cause heart problems,” he said. “If something goes wrong in the liposuction procedure instead, complications usually appear hours or days after the operation.”
He warned Hong Kong patients to have good communications with their chosen plastic surgeons in South Korea before proceeding with an operation.
