Nigeria: Surgeon in Stella Obasanjo Death Jailed

News from Spain

It was almost 4 years ago in my hotel room in Antwerp that I heard of a plane crash in Nigeria, and as the pundits speculated and postulated about what might have happened, additional sad news [1] came on air announcing the death of the wife of the President, Mrs Stella Obasanjo.

What made the news a bit suspicious was that she died in Spain; that was quite unusual for a Nigerian seeking medical treatment to end up in Spain when Germany and the United Kingdom were the usual luxury health locations.

A quick Google search for Marbella and surgery turned up an interesting development: the dear lady was in Spain for cosmetic surgery, which supposedly was to showcase herself as perfect for her 60^th birthday in a few weeks.

The dangers are real

Cosmetic surgery, however, has its dangers [2], much as programmes as Dr. 90210 almost trivialise the procedures that people seem to walk in and out of the clinics as if they have gone for a facial and manicure, these procedures are intrusive and just as critically risky as serious medical operations.

One does sometimes wonder if there is enough duty of care, monitoring and professionalism in the cosmetic surgery business for beauty rather than serious medical need.

The case of Mrs Obasanjo seems to have highlighted that issue where the surgeon has now been jailed [3] for carelessness and neglect, struck off for three years and ordered to pay $176,000 to Mrs Obasanjo’s son.

This,  however, cannot be any consolation for the loss and, worse still, for what agony and excruciating pain she might have suffered as the surgeon failed to appreciate the urgency of her condition until it was too late.

Negligence in a foreign land

She had undergone a liposuction procedure, which left the tube puncturing her colon and lacerating her liver. The doctor was not on call for hours as her state deteriorated, and when he finally became available, she was rushed to the hospital in his car rather than in an ambulance.

It is likely that Mrs Obasanjo might have visited Spain secretly for this procedure and therefore did not have at her beck and call all the due courtesies that might have accompanied such an important personality; being in a strange place with careless surgeons administering intrusive treatments must be scary enough for anyone.

In the end, the lessons are clear that seeking medical treatment abroad is not enough if proper attention is not paid to the quality of care expected for paying for such a service, that cosmetic surgery is no trivial matter, and that foreign doctors can expect to be nabbed by the long arms of the law where their professionalism is questionable.

The question remains whether that procedure was really necessary at all.

Sources

[1] Giving news a picture [akin.blog-city.com]

[2] Cosmetic surgery poses dangers [akin.blog-city.com]

[3] BBC NEWS | Europe | Doctor jailed for Obasanjo death

Cosmetic surgery poses dangers

Death from surgery complications

Just over two years ago, I was in Antwerp when the newsflash arrived of the tragedy of an air crash in Nigeria that the first lady of Nigeria, Mrs Stella Obasanjo, had died as a result of complications of surgery.

What I found a bit odd was that she died in Spain, which is not known for patient tourism of the sort that wealthy Nigerians undertake with regularity at the simplest sign of a sweat.

A quick Google search for “surgery Spain” indicated that it was a haven for cosmetic surgery, and it was quite saddening that a lady of privilege who seemingly had everything had decided there was something lacking about her appearance that she went under the knife and suffered a death by misadventure.

So, it is with additional sadness again that I read now from Barcelona of the death on Saturday of Dr Donda West (58), the mother of Kanye West, a successful contemporary music producer and artiste.

Now, I am not in any way conversant with Kanye West’s music, and I am not indicating that the case of Dr West has any similarity to that of Mrs Obasanjo, apart from the coincidence of both of them dying from complications resulting from a “cosmetic procedure”.

Whatever might have prompted the need for this procedure, Dr West was by all means a very successful academic who, until 2004, when she retired to manage her son’s interests, was a professor and the chair of the Chicago State University English Department.

Cosmetic surgery is inherently dangerous

The subtext here is that cosmetic surgery or procedures are not benign activities like brushing your teeth, but sometimes radical, intrusive activities that carry the risk of complications that could so unfortunately, lead to the loss of life.

It worries me when I channel-hop and land on an episode of Dr. 90210 where the flamboyance of cosmetic procedures has been given a bizarre Hollywood treatment, like walking into a shop to get a dress or a pair of shoes.

People who are naturally good-looking and beautiful have gotten it into their heads that their beauty is not perfected till they have been cut, spliced, tucked, sucked or lifted to look and feel better in a never-ending visit to these debauched vanity merchants who have taken the work surgery to another level of hedonistic excess that could in and of itself invite the spectre of Nemesis.

It gets perverse and unhealthy when shows like Extreme Makeover (broadcast in 18 countries) capture the imagination of those who think their low self-esteem can be overturned by externalised amelioration,  which includes plastic surgery and a change of wardrobe rather than a substantive realignment of perspective through education and long-term mentoring.

Another spotlight from the past

The stories we never hear of are of those butchered into a repose and serenity from which they would never awake.

In 2004, the author of First Wives Club, Olivia Goldsmith (54), died from a heart attack whilst under anaesthetic for a procedure which would have involved removing excess skin under her chin – it highlighted with a bit of media feeding frenzy the inherent risks of elective cosmetic surgery.

This not to say that there no successes and sometimes lucky escapes or angelic moments to these procedures – many would say their procedure was worth every penny and boosted their self-confidence amongst all other positive outcomes – but where vanity rather than medical impetus drives and defines the need for surgery, if the consequences are dire, one becomes the more fool for it all and sadly so.

Remembering those who died

Beyond the foreboding and sharp intake of breath that should accompany every specific decision to go under the knife for a cosmetic procedure and the sense of satisfaction that one anticipates after the success of such an activity, we must, with all the deepest sympathy, remember those who never got that far.

It is with this heart that I express my sorrow for those who have lost loved ones and in this case, Kanye West, and pray that they receive strength, courage and fortitude to bear their loss and gain comfort from the joys of having known and fellowshipped with people whose memory and remembrance would never fade, though they be departed, they are never gone.

References

Giving news a picture - October 2005

Plastic Surgery 101: Obesity

Two women's plastic surgery success stories - The Denver Business Journal

Unpeeling Cosmetic Surgery's Glossy Surface