Teen Dies After Breast Surgery

A Florida woman named Stephanie Kuleba, and 18 year old senior at a Florida highschool, has sadly met an early end to her life after she underwent breast surgery to correct an assymetry and nipple reconstuctive issue.  Supposedly, the problems in the surgery room arose after the part where the implants had to be put in, since the surgery involved also placing breast implants in the teenaged woman to correct the problem of assymetry, a common thing for this type of breast correction.

The senior was the captain of the cheerleading team at her school, and by all accounts was a well loved student who wanted to help others and aspired to get into medical school after her high school career came to a halt.  The girl is thought to have passed away as a direct result of the anesthesia due to a very rare genetic disorder called malignant hyperthermia which essentially puts the body into a state of shock, because it turns on itself and shuts down in response to the general anesthesia. 

Stephanie died the next day after paramedics rushed her from the plastic surgery facility to a hospital where better care could be administered.  If I’m correct, I read that the family is suing because they feel the woman could have been saved if she was given a life saving medication sooner in the facility that was doing the surgery, and instead they said that it was not given to the patient until she was at the hospital. 

It is expected that lawyers for the family will contend that if this medication or shot was administered at the surgeons office when the signs of trouble first surfaced, her chances of survival would have been greatly increased and she may still be here with us today.  It makes the breast implant alternatives that are out there now more appealing I suppose.  This is just a reminder folks that breast surgery is still surgery, and although the risks are admittedly low, the risks are still there of infection and rare complications that can even possibly result in death and this story so tragically ended.