Woman dies while undergoing Brazilian butt lift after ‘grafting phase’ complications

A 27-year-old saleswoman died during a Brazilian butt lift at a private clinic after her ventilation suddenly dropped in surgery and her heart stopped, with police inow nvestigating

A woman has died while undergoing a Brazilian butt lift operation. Barbara Laura Souza Flix checked into the private facility to have fat suctioned from her stomach and back grafted into her buttocks on Tuesday (May 26).

Medical staff noticed a sudden drop in her pulmonary ventilation levels during the grafting phase of the operation before her heart stopped completely. Surgeons attempted to resuscitate the 27-year-old for over an hour, but she was officially pronounced dead at the scene at 12:20pm.

Barbara reportedly underwent the op at the Instituto Mineiro de Obesidade in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. The main suspicion is that she died from a pulmonary embolism, possibly fat-related.

The police attended the scene and opened an investigation into the young woman’s death. Her body was transferred to the Andr Roquette Legal Medical Institute to undergo an autopsy.

Barbara, a sales worker from Belo Horizonte, was single with no children and had no known comorbidities. She was raised by her grandmother and leaves behind a brother.

Her father is deceased while her mother lives in Spain. Family members described her as an extroverted, responsible woman who was full of life.

Her cousin and childhood friend Ingrid Ester Martins Picoreli, whose son Barbara was godmother to, said the pair last met at the child’s birthday party. “She was super upbeat, extroverted and always happy,” Ingrid said.

“Barbara worked as a saleswoman and was very excited about her plans to live abroad.” Ingrid added that her cousin was “very determined and went after what she wanted”.

The family has raised questions about the procedure and response times. According to reports, the plastic surgeon responsible for the operation was Dr Pablo Meneghetti, who rented space at the IMO facility.

Neither the hospital nor the surgeon, who has over 70,000 Instagram followers, has issued a detailed public statement on the death. The surgeon’s defence lawyer previously noted that pre-operative assessments were carried out and all clinical measures were followed.

The case has drawn attention to the risks of gluteal fat grafting procedures, also known as Brazilian butt lifts, which have faced scrutiny worldwide for elevated complication rates. The clinic is facing heavy scrutiny after it emerged that a 39-year-old mother died from a similar pulmonary embolism at the same site in 2021.

Barbara’s death is being treated as a suspected medical incident under police investigation in Minas Gerais. Historically and statistically, the Brazilian Butt Lift (BBL) has been recognised by global plastic surgery societies as the most dangerous cosmetic surgery.

In 2018, a task force of international plastic surgery boards issued an urgent warning after data revealed the BBL mortality rate was as high as 1 in 3,000, a rate of death far greater than any other aesthetic procedure, according to Plasticsurgery.org

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