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Another death after 'Brazilian butt lift' in South Florida

Posted at 2:53 PM, Mar 18, 2017
and last updated 2017-03-18 14:53:18-04

Ranika Hall traveled to South Florida from her Missouri home to have a popular cosmetic surgery procedure.

She told her family she wanted to get what's known as the Brazilian Butt Lift because she wasn't happy with what her recent pregnancy did to her body.

She left her one-year old daughter in the care of her mother, Nicole Hall.

"I tried to talk her out of it. I really did," Hall said. "Her sisters and her brothers tried to talk her out of it."

Ranika Hall, 25, scheduled her procedure at Hialeah's Eres Plastic Surgery.

Thursday just before 9p.m., paramedics were called to the center at 1738 W. 49th St. in Hialeah for a female patient who had lost consciousness and was not breathing, according to Hialeah Police.

Ranika Hall was taken to the hospital where she was declared dead an hour later.

"Unbelievable like it's not true," Hall said about her daughter's death. "It's hard for me to grasp a hold of it."

Family says they can't afford to come to town and are arranging to bring her body home from there. Hall also wants to know why her daughter died.

"I know it's supposed to be a common procedure," Hall said. "I'm looking for answers."

Eres Plastic Surgery says it's investigating the death.

The center's attorney released a statement that reads, "Dr. Daniel Calva and Eres Plastic Surgery express their deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of our patient who had recently undergone a cosmetic procedure at our center on Thursday evening. Dr. Daniel Calva and Eres Plastic Surgery are deeply saddened by what has occurred and offter their thoughts and prayers during this difficult time. Dr. Calva is a highly skilled and caring surgeon that is dedicated to providing the highest level of care to his patients."

The Hialeah surgery center is the same location where Heather Meadows, 29, died in May 2016. Meadows also had the Brazilian Butt Lift procedure.

When Meadows died, the facility was known as Encore Plastic Surgery and had a different owner. The location has been a plastic surgery center for at least a decade but has changed names three times and owners multiple times in those ten years.

The NBC 6 Investigators have uncovered the deaths of 11 women after plastic surgery since 2010. Most of those deaths involved Brazilian Butt Lifts. Centers are required to report the deaths to the state, but there is no easy way for the public to find out if a death has happened at a facility.

The NBC 6 Investigations sparked a worldwide study into the procedure. Doctors with the Aesthetic Surgery Education and Research Foundation formed a task force and did a voluntary survey of doctors around the world. The survey found that a patient is 20 times more likely to die of a Brazilian Butt Lift than any other cosmetic surgery procedure.

In what's commonly known as a BBL, fat is taken from a person's stomach or back and injected into their backside to make it more plump and full.

When there is a death it's caused by what's known as a fat embolism where fat enters the blood stream and is sent to the lungs and a patient can stop breathing.

Hialeah Police, state health officials and the plastic surgery center all report they are investigating the death.

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Story courtesy of our news partners at NBCMiami.com.