An Australian woman who went to Mexicali, Mexico, to get butt implants died after suffering from a cardiac arrest during the procedure, which was performed by Dr. Victor Ramirez who once got into a legal entanglement with reality TV star Kim Kardashian.
Evita Nicole Sarmonikas, of Gold Coast, Australia, died on March 20 during an implant surgery at the Hospital Quirurgico del Valle in Mexicali, Mexico, an autopsy showed.
Sarmonikas' cousin, Nick Tsagalias, confirmed to The Gold Coast Bulletin that the 29-year-old Sarmonikas went to the Valley Surgical Hospital in Mexicali on Friday for a butt augmentation procedure. An autopsy performed in Mexico revealed that she died of a heart attack.
"She was the best human being I have ever met," Tsagalias told the Bulletin. "She was really so pure and innocent, so it's just not fair that this has happened to her."
Authorities are already investigating Dr. Victor Ramirez for possible medical negligence. The Del Valle Surgical Hospital will also be fined after it was found to have expired medications, equipment that had not been maintained, and other failings.
In 2012, Dr. Ramirez was sued by Kim Kardashian when he put a picture of the reality TV star in a billboard promoting his practice. Kardashian claimed he used her image without permission and threatened to sue. Ramirez took down the ad.
According to reports, Sarmonikas' family wants the autopsy done in Australia, not Mexico. "We cannot accept her coming back as ashes because we need to find out the truth about what happened," the Tsagalias said. "Eva didn't deserve this."
Evita Nicole Sarmonikas was not the only victim of a botched butt implant surgery. Last month, Texas nurse Wykesha Reid, 34, died from botched butt-implant injections - the fourth time she'd had the procedure in her voracious quest for a bigger "booty", according to her family.
In late 2014, 23-year-old Londoner Joy Williams travelled to Thailand for cut-price bum implants and died in excruciating pain days later when they became infected.
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