Jeffrey Mayer speaks about his ex-wife, who died after a liposuction surgery. (Credit: Brooklyn district attorney’s office)
Brooklyn prosecutors indicted a doctor they said recklessly performed liposuction on a woman who later died.
District Attorney Charles Hynes said today that he charged Dr. Oleg Davie, 51, with manslaughter and falsifying documents.
Davie performed liposuction surgery on a patient who had heart transplant surgery before, something that should have barred Davie from the procedure, Hynes said.
The patient, Isel Pineda, had a heart transplant in 2004. Eight years later, Pineda, 51, came to Dr. Davie’s Park Avenue office for a consultation, where she filled out a form about her medical history, prosecutors said.
Davie performed the liposuction in May of 2012. She went into cardiac arrest and collapsed in his office, and she died after being rushed to Coney Island Hospital, according to the D.A.
“Any medical professional would clearly know if a patient has previously had heart transplant surgery because of the obvious scar on the chest,” Hynes said. “And doctors are well aware of the fact that they are discouraged from performing liposuction and similar procedures on patients with heart disease.”
After the death, Davie provided a medical history form to the state Department of Health that had no mention of her heart transplant, Hynes alleged, but paperwork from the consultation, noting the transplant, was found in Pineda’s purse.
Daviefaces a maximum of 34 years in prison, according to the D.A.’s office.
