A mother of two who underwent a procedure to have her butt implants removed by a sham doctor in Queens has died, weeks after the March procedure, records show.
María Paz Peñaloza, 31, was initially left brain dead last month after the botched attempt to have the implants taken out inside an illegal liposuction clinic in a home in Ditmars Steinway, but was taken off life support on April 11.
The phony surgeon, Felipe Hoyos-Foronda, who tried to flee and was arrested at JFK Airport, administered lidocaine to the victim through a syringe, caused her to go into cardiac arrest, according to a complaint filed in Queens Criminal Court.
“We never imagined this would happen,” the victim’s sister, Linney Peñaloza Cabrera, 34, told the Daily News. “A friend who went with María called and said she was taken away in an ambulance but she didn’t know how bad it was.”
“She went there because a friend had already gone there for an operation and recommended him,” she added. “From the time the ambulance came and while she was in the hospital, [doctors] were trying to revive her for two-and-a-half hours.”
Prosecutors from the Queens District Attorney’s Office believe Peñaloza died from lidocaine toxicity. Lidocaine, while generally safe, can be toxic if wrongly administered or with large injections in widespread areas.
While the victim was at the hospital, her friend went to Hoyos-Foronda’s illegal clinic to pick up her belongings, sources told The Post..
A landlord told the friend what happened, prompting her to call the police, according to the sources.
Police managed to track the license plate of Hoyos-Foronda’s car to the Van Wyck Expressway — and Port Authority cops caught him at the airport, where he was getting ready to hop on a plane back to Colombia.
He was arrested and charged with second-degree assault, a felony, as well as unauthorized practice of a profession, according to the complaint.
The Queen’s DA’s office did not immediately respond to the Post’s inquiry as to whether or not his charges have been upgraded since Peñaloza’s death.