Doctor to plead guilty after mom had fatal cardiac arrest during breast implant surgery, family says
Megan Espinoza, 36 was anesthetized by a nurse who was not licensed to do so
The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday
Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US
Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US
A doctor who waited three hours to call 911 after his patient went into cardiac arrest during breast implant surgery is now set to plea to criminal charges, her family says.
Dr Carlos Chacon reached a plea deal with prosecutors to plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter, Moises Espinoza told NBC7. As a result, he will be recommended for a three-year prison sentence, instead of the 15 to life he faced when first arrested. Chacon will also face a lifetime revocation of his medical license in California.
The plastic surgeon is next scheduled to appear in court on July 1, the San Diego District Attorney confirmed to The Independent, but did not confirm the plea deal or its terms.
Megan Espinoza, the 36-year-old teacher and mother to two boys, entered the operation room on December 19, 2018 at 12.30pm and was given anesthesia by a registered nursed who did not have appropriate certification to do so, court documents state.
Less than two hours into the surgery, at around 2.20pm, Espinoza had a drop in oxygen saturation before going into cardiac arrest. Chacon used a defibrillator on the patient, whose pulse went back to normal, but required breathing support and remained unconscious.
Chacon waited until 5.20pm to call 911, three hours after she entered cardiac arrest, filings say. Espinoza was then in the hospital for weeks, where her condition deteriorated.
She died on January 28, 2019. The autopsy revealed her death to have been caused by brain dysfunction “due to cardiac arrest” during the operation.
In a separate investigation from the Medical Board of California, a complaint revealed that video footage of the procedure captured the plastic surgeon “using Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support cheat sheets while attempting to rescue” Espinoza, according to CBS8.
Even with the so-called “cheat sheets” at his disposal, the filing states that Chacon didn’t follow the first step after a patient suffers a hospital cardiac arrest: “call 911, even prior ot initiating CPR.” The board also accused the doctor of having “abandoned the patient on multiple occasions following cardiac arrest, including being absent from the operating room on numerous occasions while his staff worked on rescuing the patient.”
The state medical board also noted that Chacon made a false claim on his website.
The plastic surgeon “falsely inferred” on his medical practice’s website “that he was board certified with the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery...when in fact he was not.”
The victim’s husband said he was happy to see the doctor face punishment.
“The fact that no one else is ever going to have to go through this, no other family is ever going to have to suffer this again, is a relief to me, and I think a win for Megan,” Moises told NBC7 in a recent interview.
After the criminal charge was filed against Chacon, Moises told the outlet: “It just shows you the lack of compassion he had for a life, my wife, my wife.”
Moises and Megan were married for 12 years and have two children together, according to her obituary. “It’s just us three now, so we have to live with the reality that we don’t have a mother, but we cherish those memories and pictures and probably every other week we’ll go look at some videos together and remember how many lives she touched,” he said.
The late patient’s older brother David Gorcey said the plea deal was a small, promising step, since there is no bringing his sister back: “There’s no sentence that will change the reality for us, but what we’re taking some comfort in is the fact that this person won’t be able to do this to anyone again.”
“She was just so loving and positive,” Gorcey said. “The world would be a better place if there were more Megans in it.”
Espinoza’s family separately filed a civil suit against Chacon and won a settlement.