The cosmetic surgery performed on a Limerick woman was a "significant contributing factor" in her death, a New York autopsy report has found.
The autopsy also revealed that Kay Kelly Cregan had reconstruction on her face and neck, upper and lower eyelid surgery and lip augmentation as well as the nose operation reported widely in the media. The autopsy results were revealed yesterday by the New York medical examiner's office.
The report found that the death's etiology, or underlying reason, was unknown but that the cosmetic surgery had contributed significantly. The manner of death is listed as a "therapeutic complication".
The medical examiner notes that Ms Cregan had nasal reconstruction as well as upper and lower eye lid surgery, which is listed by the technical name "blephoroplasty" as well as reconstruction of the face and neck and upper and lower lip augmentation.
Yesterday, Ms Cregan's sister welcomed the autopsy result. Agnes Kelly, a Boston nurse, said that the report was "pretty good" but didn't answer her family's questions about how the death happened. "It opens the door but we still don't have any concrete answers on what happened."
Ms Kelly said her family was now awaiting a New York state health board report on her sister's death following surgery by Dr Michael Sachs, a prominent Manhattan plastic surgeon.
"It's pretty good because it shows that my sister didn't just have a heart attack. We only have a central hypothesis on what happened and we have to wait for the health board report," she said.
Ms Kelly said she was focusing on getting legislation changed in Ireland so that foreign plastic surgeons would have to register before they advertise in Ireland. "We've been talking to Mary Harney's office and we are mostly focused on that at the moment."
Ms Kelly Cregan was rushed to hospital on March 15th after undergoing plastic surgery in Dr Sachs' office. She died in St Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center two days later.
It later emerged that Dr Sachs has settled 33 malpractice lawsuits in the last 10 years. He had also been banned by the New York State department of health from performing complex nasal surgery without the supervision of another surgeon with at least 10 years experience.
His lawyer, Peter Parcher, yesterday disagreed with the medical examiner's findings and said they were not supported by the facts in the case.