A Quebec family is filing legal action against a plastic surgeon after a woman died while undergoing surgery on her nose, a coroner's report has stated.
Valerie Castonguay, 25, died during the treatment process following surgery on her nose at Rene Crepeau private plastic surgery clinic in Cote des Neiges in May 2008, said the report.
A bad connection with the patient's oxygen tube while in recovery following her surgery at the private clinic led to a perforated lung and neurological complications, found coroner Paul G.Dionne.
In a matter of minutes, Castonguay became severely brain damaged, the report found. The recovery team has been implicated in her death.
Following the surgery, Castonguay was transferred to hospital where she was declared brain dead later that day.
Jean-Pierre Menard, medical malpractice lawyer for the family, said private clinics need to have more restrictions in terms of training, supervision and more comprehensive protocols.
Menard is fighting for private clinics to have the same protocols for surgery as public clinics. There are currently no standards -- only recommendations from the College des Medecins -- that must be upheld in private clinics, on issues like equipment, the quality of sterilization or the quality of personnel.
The doctor in this case has so far labelled Castonguay's death an accident.
