Mala McAlpin Brazilian Cosmetic Surgeon Denis Furtado has been arrested for the death of a patient after a botched buttock-enhancing procedure last Saturday. The patient, 46 year-old Lilian Calixto died in the nearby Barra D’Or hospital just hours after the procedure, which was carried out inside Furtado’s luxury home in the high end district of Barra da Tijuca.
Furtado is known to use Poly (methyl methacrylate) or PMMA in his buttock-enhancing procedures; a synthetic resin that is also known as ‘acrylic glass’ filler.
Calixto began to feel extremely ill soon after her treatment, experiencing an elevated heart rate and hypertension, and according to the hospital, “unresponsive to manoeuvres”. She then suffered four consecutive heart attacks before passing away.
The surgeon, 45 year-old Denis Furtado, spent four days on the run, disappearing quickly after Calixto’s death in the early hours of last Sunday morning. His mother and girlfriend have also been arrested in relation to the procedure.
Furtado, popularly known as ‘Dr BumBum’ is a renowned celebrity surgeon, a regular on Brazilian television, and has over 600k followers on social media, as well as boasting over 8,000 successful buttock-enhancing procedures including wealthy, well-known and celebrity clients. His social media accounts were all blocked shortly after his disappearance.
Calixto was a married mother of two, and travelled from her hometown of Cuiaba for the procedure. One report claims that, according to unnamed sources at Barra D’Or hospital, Furtado unwittingly injected the filler into an artery, which formed a clot that was likely responsible for the heart attacks.
Calixto’s 23 year-old son claims that the trip was meant to be a single-day, in-and-out trip, and that his mother had told the family the purpose of her visit was to receive an implant to aid and treat her menopause.
“At 8.30am on Sunday, this doctor called me telling me there had been a complication and that they needed someone to release her body. It was the only time I spoke to him, and after that he disappeared,” he said.
Calixto’s stepdaughter, Alessandro Jambert, told a Brazilian newspaper that she was the only one who knew about the surgery, and that Calixto’s choice in surgeon was based “on the recommendation of others”. An unnamed friend also stated Calixto was “very meticulous, very careful, really organised. She didn’t do things any which way. We believe that somehow she was tricked.”
President of the Brazilian Plastic Surgery Society, Niveo Steffen, says the industry is experiencing a “growing invasion of non-specialists,” telling AFP news agency “You cannot perform plastic surgery inside an apartment. Many people are selling a dream, a fantasy to patients in an unethical way and people, weakened, are often attracted to low prices, without considering whether or not the conditions are adequate.”
