♪ ♪
VAN ZELLER: We've been, you know, waiting
for this moment for so long.
I start getting anxious beforehand.
VOICE (over computer): Welcome. Please take your ticket. Please drive inside.
VAN ZELLER: So I don't know a lot about this person.
I just know that he's willing to talk.
I've reported on black market surgeries overseas.
VAN ZELLER: But now, a series of suspicious deaths.
VAN ZELLER: Have led me home to America.
Where young women are checking in for plastic surgery and
never checking out.
REPORTER (over TV): A family is heartbroken.
REPORTER (over TV): Is conducting a death investigation.
REPORTER (over TV): Another tragedy out of South Florida.
REPORTER (over TV): Patient REPORTER (over TV): Range in age from 29 to 35.
REPORTER (over TV): 31‐year‐old Latesha Bynum.
REPORTER (over TV): Is in London.
REPORTER (over TV): Kelly Mayhew.
REPORTE (over TV): Danea Plasencia.
REPORTER (over TV): Ria Valeria.
REPORTER (over TV): Died after undergoing the same procedure.
VAN ZELLER: I followed a trail of money, sex, and blood.
From the strip clubs of Atlanta
to a strip mall clinic in Miami.
And to these people whose claims of greed‐driven
managers and dangerous practices could destroy
an entire industry.
Why hasn't anyone come out and spoken, like you?
♪ ♪
VAN ZELLER: I'll just follow you.
NIKKI: About to have my bubble scene with my man.
VAN ZELLER: My journey to understand why so many young
women are dying starts here on the set of a music video.
♪ Cold bitch ♪
♪ And I'm from the 317 ♪
♪ Tall bitch ♪
♪ Kick her ass with a size 11 ♪
♪ No hoe shit ♪ ♪
VAN ZELLER: So this is just a little part of the video.
NIKKI: Yeah.
VAN ZELLER: And this one is called? The song?
VAN ZELLER: Nikki Sweets is an up‐and‐coming hip hop artist
looking to leverage her social media following into global stardom.
NIKKI: The image that people wanna see on TV
is the curvaceous woman.
The more curvaceous you are, the more attractive you are to
the crowd that you're selling to.
Like Nikki Minaj has the fattest ass and she's like the
biggest female artist.
VAN ZELLER: Ten years ago, Nikki didn't have the money
for plastic surgery.
So she paid a stranger for black market injections.
NIKKI: To get my ass done was only like $700.
VAN ZELLER: Wow.
NIKKI: One of the worst experiences of my life.
It was very painful, because I was up the whole time.
There was no numbing, it was just, "Lay down.
I'm going to stick these needles and I'mma fill you up."
And.
VAN ZELLER: What was it? What was.
NIKKI: It was silicone.
It was silicone injected into my ass at that time.
Results were just like that.
VAN ZELLER: Really? NIKKI: Yeah.
VAN ZELLER: Like the moment you left.
NIKKI: The moment it happened I looked in the mirror and
my ass was bigger.
VAN ZELLER: Wow.
Did you know what you were getting yourself into at the time?
Did you know what it was going...
NIKKI: No. VAN ZELLER: To feel like or.
NIKKI: I mean, people talk, there was so many girls that did it.
Years later I kept hearing about girls dying from it.
Infections and stuff.
To this day, I still get scared,
like, am I going to be next?
You know, like, is something going to happen to me next?
VAN ZELLER: Like any black market,
the trade in these illegal injections is driven by demand.
And just like in drugs or guns,
the transactions you hear about are the ones that go wrong.
REPORTER (over TV): 35‐year‐old Wakesha Reid died.
ANCHOR (over TV): She died afte a silicone beauty injection.
REPORTER (over TV): Kelly Mayhe died after a procedure in this.
REPORTER (over TV): 31‐year‐old Latesha Bynum suffered
severe complications after buttock enhancement injection.
VAN ZELLER: Behind every one of these fatalities is a pumper,
a shadowy figure illegally injecting women with
anything from medical silicone to furniture polish.
How many people do you think will be here tonight?
D'NISHA: Every section is sold.
VAN ZELLER: Really? D'NISHA: Yes.
VAN ZELLER: It's sold‐out? D'NISHA: Yes.
VAN ZELLER: And to find a pumper,
I thought I'd start by seeking out women who rely on curves
to make a living.
How long have you been waitressing here for?
D'NISHA: Since we opened two years ago.
VAN ZELLER: So it's gonna be a big night?
D'NISHA: Huge.
VAN ZELLER: My guide, D'nisha Kidwell,
has offered to take me on her rounds,
as she selects the dancers who will work the floor tonight.
D'NISHA: This is the dressing room.
VAN ZELLER: Whoa, it's packed already.
Oh, wow. Hi.
DANCER: Hi.
VAN ZELLER: How are you? DANCER: How are you?
VAN ZELLER: Hi. How are you? Hi everyone.
DANCER: Hi. VAN ZELLER: Hi.
DANCER: So cute.
D'NISHA: So these are the outfits that they gave us.
If they don't come with an outfit,
they have the option of buying one here from her.
They just make sure that they're...
VAN ZELLER: And it's.
D'NISHA: Well taken care of for the night.
VAN ZELLER: For sale? D'NISHA: Yes.
VAN ZELLER: They can buy their stuff here?
D'NISHA: Yes. Yes.
VAN ZELLER: Competition to work here is fierce.
Before any of these dancers are hired,
they have to pass a body check.
VAN ZELLER: Those women selected will pay the club up
to $400 to dance here, just for a single night.
D'NISHA: Okay, turn around.
All the way. Okay.
VAN ZELLER: Dancers jump through these hoops because
the upside is enormous.
♪ I know you want me, stand beside me ♪
VAN ZELLER: Attention.
♪ To make ♪
VAN ZELLER: Opportunity.
♪ Yourself ♪
VAN ZELLER: And a share.
♪ Feel ♪
VAN ZELLER: Of this.
♪ Like you're mine ♪ ♪
♪ ♪
VAN ZELLER: On a good night, a dancer can clear up to $10,000.
All of which can make both legal cosmetic surgery and
illegal procedures like getting pumped seem like
a good idea.
All these women have big boobs and big butts, right?
MAN: They're taking in their waist or they're spreading out
their hips and really getting those big butts.
VAN ZELLER: How many women that work here do you think
have had plastic surgery or some sort of body modifications?
MAN: It's, it's in the 90% probably.
MAN 2: Yeah. VAN ZELLER: 90%? MAN: Yeah.
It's, basically you just walking into the,
what you see on TV, pretty much.
VAN ZELLER: And what you see on TV and social media is this.
Celebrities and influencers with the kind of curves that
are inspiring a generation of young women to buy the look
with cosmetic surgery.
In reality, changing the shape of women's bodies is not a new trend.
Back in the 1890s, Austrian doctors first performed
breast augmentations using injections of melted wax.
And through the 1940s, Japanese sex workers were
pumped with industrial silicone to increase their
earning power with American GIs.
In both cases, the risks taken by women proved disastrous.
WOMAN: (bleep).
(screaming).
D'NISHA: They like that.
VAN ZELLER: Are you happy with how your body looks now?
D'NISHA: I am, but I'm going to get a tune up and I'm going
to get some things readjusted.
VAN ZELLER: Yeah, I mean, you look beautiful. I don't think you need anything done.
D'NISHA: Thank you. Thank you. But I just, I just, it's just me.
VAN ZELLER: Uh‐huh.
D'NISHA: So, for me, if I look in the mirror,
I wanna feel confident.
So that makes, that helps me out.
And I feel like if my confidence level is up here,
my money is up here.
VAN ZELLER: Have you heard of women getting,
uh, butt injections?
D'NISHA: Yes.
VAN ZELLER: Did you ever do that?
D'NISHA: No comment.
VAN ZELLER: Is that something that when women,
if they get butt inject, butt injections,
they usually don't wanna talk about it?
D'NISHA: Um, yes.
Um, a lot of people don't wanna talk about that.
VAN ZELLER: Because it's not legal?
D'NISHA: Right.
VAN ZELLER: Um, do you know anyone who gives shots?
D'NISHA: Gives them? No.
VAN ZELLER: I mean, we would love to interview somebody who
gives shots and we wouldn't show their face and we
wouldn't disclose their identity.
And we would just like to talk to them.
D'NISHA: Like, if I knew who does them,
I couldn't tell you who it is.
VAN ZELLER: None of the women at the club would connect us
to a pumper.
And that's not a surprise.
In this community, pumpers are underworld figures who carry
status, cash, and guns.
SHEENA: I know a pumper.
They came in and they had guns and they made sure they put
the guns right there so we can see them.
VAN ZELLER: There's a wall of fear out there.
And I'm hoping insiders and former clients will help me
break through it.
Is she still injecting?
VANCIE (over computer): Yes, she is.
VAN ZELLER: Do you think that considering the fact that what
she's doing is illegal, she will talk to us?
VANCIE (over computer): I know that a lot of them won't.
VAN ZELLER: All I need is the right introduction.
How would you even go about here in Atlanta to look for a pumper?
MARCELLA: There's no benefit interviewing with you.
There's absolutely no benefit.
It's not even worth it for them.
VAN ZELLER: How much money do you think they're making?
SHEENA: Oh, my goodness (bleep) told me she made
$1 million one year.
VAN ZELLER: No way.
So there's one very famous pumper here in Atlanta.
SHEENA: Yes.
VAN ZELLER: That we keep hearing about.
And I was wondering if you think there's any way that we
could connect with her?
SHEENA (over phone): I really think it's gonna be,
it's gonna be difficult.
VAN ZELLER: As any journalist will tell you,
the harder you work, the luckier you get.
And after scouring this city for pumpers,
I finally find a lead.
So Jenny, we got your number here in Atlanta from somebody
who said you've been injected before?
JENNY (over phone): Yeah, yeah, I have.
VAN ZELLER: And we've been looking for somebody that will talk to us.
JENNY (over phone): Oh, you wanna talk to an injector?
VAN ZELLER: An injector that would talk to us.
JENNY (over phone): Yeah, I know someone.
JENNY (over phone): You know what I mean?
VAN ZELLER: Yeah. I mean, Jenny, it would be great if you could reach out
to her and see if we could talk.
You can tell her we're just really interested in hearing
her side of the story, why she does what she does.
VAN ZELLER: So, wait, so, is it common that people sell
injectors' phone numbers?
JENNY (over phone): It is common.
VAN ZELLER: Uh‐hmm. Yeah.
That's complicated because we don't pay for interviews.
JENNY (over phone): Okay. I have to get back to you.
I have to ask her if she's okay with that first and then
I'll let you know.
VAN ZELLER: Okay.
(phone ringing).
When Jenny texts me back, the news is even better than I'd hoped for.
So supposedly she's here already,
just have to figure out exactly where.
Her contact, a legendary Atlanta pumper named Ms. T
has agreed to a meeting.
Hey, yeah, so we are here already.
But I'm not sure where you are.
Do you see me?
Okay, is that you right here?
Yeah, okay, I see.
Yeah, okay, we'll follow you.
Ms. T is on her way to inject a client.
And she's invited us to witness a motel room procedure
that could land her 10 years in jail.
MS T: How you feel?
AMBER: I'm okay.
VAN ZELLER: Because when things go wrong in this business, people die.
MS T: You ready?
♪ ♪
VAN ZELLER: This is it. We have someone.
Just make sure you don't put the cameras on the car, you know?
We don't wanna make her nervous.
Ms. T has led us to a motel on the outskirts of Atlanta.
She has set conditions for filming.
She wants us to conceal her voice,
her identity, and her location.
At exactly 11pm, we are to meet her in room 306.
♪ ♪
MS T: Take your body closer to me this way.
Yeah, just like this. This is fine.
VAN ZELLER: Ms. T has no formal medical training.
What she's doing is dangerous, sometimes lethal.
VAN ZELLER: And can create health effects that linger for years.
How many times have you done this before?
VAN ZELLER: Amber is transgender and these
injections will be a final step in claiming a body she
has been looking for her entire life.
But you are aware of the risks?
♪ ♪
VAN ZELLER: Oh, my God. Looks painful.
Ms. T tells me that she only uses medical‐grade silicone
supplied to her illegally by an actual doctor.
But in this underworld, a pumper's integrity is the only
thing determining the quality and content of the material
being pushed into the body.
So what's that?
VAN ZELLER: So that's it? MS T: Yeah.
VAN ZELLER: Wait, and now you just get dressed and you leave?
AMBER: Yeah. VAN ZELLER: Hmm.
So the whole thing took about 15 minutes?
MS T: Yeah.
VAN ZELLER: What would you say to people who would judge you
and say, "She's doing this crazy procedure and it's so
dangerous and people are dying and she must be really stupid
to be doing this"?
AMBER: Well, I know I'm not stupid and so
I'd just tell those people to kiss my ass.
I shoulda used this body during the summertime.
Now I will have to wait to show it off again.
VAN ZELLER: Did you ever think that you'd be working in the underground?
MS T: Not in my wildest dreams.
VAN ZELLER: Do you think that had an influence on you
wanting to do cosmetic procedures on other people?
MS T: Yes. VAN ZELLER: Uh‐hmm.
How many people do you think you've injected?
MS T: Oh, wow, I can't even, hundreds, hundreds.
VAN ZELLER: What's the most amount of people you ever did
in one day or one night?
MS T: About 40.
VAN ZELLER: 40 people? MS T: Uh‐hmm.
VAN ZELLER: In, in one night? MS T: Yes.
VAN ZELLER: How much do you charge?
MS T: $1,000.
VAN ZELLER: So you made $40,000 that one day?
VAN ZELLER: So it's super easy money.
MS T: Yeah.
VAN ZELLER: But really risky too.
MS T: Very risky. It's very, very risky. Yes.
VAN ZELLER: So what changed in you?
VAN ZELLER: And this was somebody that you were going
to inject and then they robbed you?
MS T: Uh‐hmm. Tied me up, beat me with a gun.
VAN ZELLER: Because you were carrying so much cash,
did you ever carry a gun with you?
VAN ZELLER: Okay.
VAN ZELLER: Knowing all the risks involved and knowing how
there are people who have died,
have you ever had any problems with anyone you've injected?
VAN ZELLER: I don't doubt Ms. T,
but it's not like there are records kept of the negative
effects, which can show up years later.
TIMOTHY: Very good.
VAN ZELLER: You could call it the flipside of silicone pumping
or just another day at the office for Dr. Timothy Katzen.
TIMOTHY: This patient had a series of three sessions of
injections, consisting of about 20 injections per side,
starting about ten years ago.
VAN ZELLER: Up to seven times a week,
he tackles a job so dangerous that most plastic surgeons
refuse to do it,
removing the silicone from black market injections.
For patients who had been seeking a cheap beauty fix,
this is where the dream comes to die.
A warning, this is about to get very graphic.
TIMOTHY: See all the stuff? That's all silicone.
Sometimes the silicone injectable will migrate.
If it goes into your heart, you can have a heart attack.
If it goes into your brain, you could have a stroke.
All the silicone is just right at the surface,
trying to leak out.
VAN ZELLER: Despite the dangers,
every night, pumpers are out there pumping,
selling curves that are pushed to us on social media.
I'm not immune to these pressures either.
Over the past couple of years, I've paid a doctor to inject
acids and toxins into my face to make me look younger.
Botox, a procedure that happens to be perfectly legal.
The methods and products could not be more different.
But the motivations are the same.
After all, who doesn't want to look more attractive
or feel more confident?
The demand for plastic surgery cuts across all demographic lines.
But all too often, the outcomes and risks of those
procedures depend on how much the patient is able to pay.
In one corner of America, the pressure for a perfect body
has become so great that it's launched an entire
medical tourism industry.
Welcome to Miami.
The new home of cheap plastic surgery and to a string of
suspicious deaths.
♪ ♪
VAN ZELLER: Until recently, the high cost of plastic surgery
meant that the only option for some patients
seeking exaggerated curves were underground procedures,
like the silicone shots I witnessed in Atlanta.
So this is where we've heard there's a couple of these
surgery centers, which is sort of strange because you usually
associate, you know, plastic surgery to luxury.
Today, in strip malls on the west side of Miami,
a new breed of legal outpatient clinics has
emerged, offering layaway plans and rock‐bottom prices.
There's a car arriving.
Well, there's a couple of people waiting outside.
Many, if not most of the clients you see coming in and
out of these clinics, seem to be coming straight from the
airport, with suitcases in tow.
So it's been 10 minutes since I've been sitting here,
seeing a bunch of women just go in and out.
I mean, it had been described to us like a factory and
that's what it feels like right now.
Along with breast enhancements and tummy tucks,
these centers offer a procedure that can provide
even more dramatic results than silicone pumping.
It's the fastest‐growing cosmetic surgery in America,
the Brazilian butt lift.
♪ ♪
The BBL sounds simple.
Suck out the fat from your stomach and thighs where you
don't want it, and inject it into your hips and butt,
where you do.
DR OKORO: This is done side. These are done.
VAN ZELLER: Wow, what a difference.
DR OKORO: We don't wanna make it too big.
We wanna make it like, look classy.
VAN ZELLER: In reality, it's the most dangerous operation
in cosmetic surgery.
Like silicone, if fat is injected in the wrong place,
it can kill the patient almost instantly.
Dr. Stanley Okoro, a board‐certified plastic surgeon
in Atlanta, trained 12 years to avoid these pitfalls.
But the doctors in Miami's bargain clinics are often far less qualified.
DR OKORO: In the United States of America,
any medical doctor can do plastic surgery.
VAN ZELLER: So a pediatrician could do plastic surgery.
DR OKORO: That's correct.
A pediatrician can do cosmetic surgery.
VAN ZELLER: And these doctors that aren't plastic surgeons,
how much training are they getting before they operate?
DR OKORO: There are all kinds of weekend courses that these
doctors can take on, in a hotel.
It's like a cookbook.
The problem is, if you get into a problem and it's not in the cookbook.
VAN ZELLER: What do you do then? Yeah.
DR OKORO: He call 911.
VAN ZELLER: Right.
REPORTER (over TV): An investigation is just beginning
after a woman died following plastic surgery.
REPORTER (over TV): Heather Meadows died during a Brazilian butt lift.
REPORTER (over V): Danea Plasencia died after
undergoing a Brazilian butt lift.
REPORTER (over TV): She's one of more than a dozen women who
died after undergoing the same procedure in South Florida.
VAN ZELLER: Hi. How are you?
CAROLINA: How are you? VAN ZELLER: Good.
I'm Mariana. So nice to meet you.
CAROLINA: Carolina. Nice to meet you.
VAN ZELLER: Thank you so much for having me.
CAROLINA: My grandma, Mariana.
(speaking Spanish).
VAN ZELLER: Oh, yes, you're called Mariana also.
MARIANA: Mariana. VAN ZELLER: Oh.
In 2016, Carolina Flores' sister, Maria Christian,
saved up for a tummy tuck to hide the
stretch marks from giving birth to her second child.
VAN ZELLER: What clinic? What center did she go to?
CAROLINA: Vanity. Before, I believe they were called Encore.
VAN ZELLER: Shortly after leaving,
I received an email from Carolina,
which contained this police report of her sister's death.
It says that when EMS arrived at the clinic,
they were denied access for at least five minutes.
Why?
What could possibly be more important than letting
paramedics into that building?
Okay, so you see that one?
I'm gonna try and go inside to see if I can get a consultation.
JEROME: Here we are in Miami in a typical strip mall.
VAN ZELLER: Right.
And not where you'd expect a medical facility to be at, right?
JEROME: Absolutely.
VAN ZELLER: These strip mall surgery centers in Miami are
promising beauty on the cheap.
But I want to know why their patients are dying in alarming numbers.
When did this all start, these clinics?
JEROME: They started exploding in numbers ten years ago and
it's just gotten bigger and bigger and bigger.
VAN ZELLER: To hit the ground running,
I'm piggybacking on the investigations of three people,
medical malpractice lawyer Andres Beregovich,
who has launched a number of lawsuits against these clinics.
Jerome Hill, a former cop and former investigator for the
Florida Department of Health.
And Florida State Senator Anitere Flores who has passed
a bill requiring stricter regulations.
ANITERE: This is something that has become a national problem.
VAN ZELLER: They're giving me a crash course in a cottage industry
that appears to be operating at the margins of the law.
What's the clientele?
Who are the people coming to these centers?
ANITERE: These are people from across the country.
VAN ZELLER: Uh‐hmm.
ANITERE: That are being, I would say, preyed upon.
We'll have hospital executives that'll tell us,
"Oh, yeah.
You know we have a couple patients a week that come in
from that plastic surgery place,
but we can't do anything about it."
JEROME: We're gonna go in here and see a particular
problematic surgery center that has given the state,
and more importantly, the citizens of Florida some
consternation and.
VAN ZELLER: That one over there?
JEROME: Yeah.
VAN ZELLER: Jolie? JEROME: Yes.
VAN ZELLER: Jolie, the clinic formerly known as Vanity,
where Maria Christian died.
After the incident, the clinic issued a statement claiming
they followed standard procedures.
But a pending malpractice lawsuit against Vanity and
Maria's doctor alleges otherwise.
And Maria's death is not a stand‐alone incident.
So how many deaths have happened here?
JEROME: Jolie Center and their affiliate has had eight deaths right now.
VAN ZELLER: Just in six years?
JEROME: That's just astronomical.
VAN ZELLER: That's right.
Eight deaths between 2013 and 2018 have been linked to this
clinic, which operated first as Encore ,
then as Vanity , and now as Jolie .
Local media reports that nearly a dozen other women
have also suffered serious injuries.
ANDRES: When there's too much heat,
they just close, then reopen, same location. It's crazy.
VAN ZELLER: A 2019 exposé by The Naples Daily News and
USA Today had this to say about the deaths,
name changes, and the clinic's de facto owner,
Ismael Labrador.
"Seven of the women who died were working‐class Hispanics
and African‐Americans, groups targeted by the clinics'
advertising campaigns.
While deaths and injuries mounted,
the names of the clinics were changed three times since 2016.
But one person has remained at the center,
Dr. Ismael Labrador.
To get a sense of how Labrador operates,
we conducted a records request from the state's Department of Health.
What we learned is that although the clinic changed
names over the years, from Vanidades , to Encore ,
to Vanity , to Eres , to Jolie Plastic Surgery ,
many of the surgeons and some of the staff stayed the same.
Even the human resources rep who registered the staff and
the surgeons with the Department of Health remained
the same, though her email address changed frequently
over the years.
And Labrador is not the only clinic operator who has
come under scrutiny.
USA Today reported that at least 13 women have died at
four other Florida plastic surgery centers.
How difficult do you think it is to find somebody sort of
working inside these clinics to talk to us,
about how, what the reality is inside?
JEROME: I think you're gonna find it very difficult.
VAN ZELLER: A toxic stew was brewing here,
with lax regulations, dangerous practices,
and untold millions to be made.
The more I learn, the less I'm surprised by the growing list of fatalities.
Okay, so you see that one?
I wanna try and go inside and see if I can get a consultation.
Unfortunately, we're not allowed to go in with cameras.
It's against the law in Florida.
According to USA Today and Naples Daily News investigation
the Florida Health Department has investigated at least
six deaths and serious injuries at Labrador's clinics,
many of which were avoidable and the result of mistakes.
In four of the BBL fatalities at Labrador clinics.
USA Today reported that doctors injected fat in the wrong place,
killing their patients within minutes.
We tried to reach the Florida Department of Health for
a comment and yet, after months of emails,
calls, and many unanswered voicemails,
they said they were unable to comment because of confidentiality.
So perhaps it's not surprising that little has been done
despite the fatalities.
So they actually said that everything is done over the phone.
RECEPTIONIST (over phone): Hi, hello?
VAN ZELLER: Good. How are you doing?
RECEPTIONIST (over phone): Very well, yourself?
VAN ZELLER: Good. I have a few questions for you about BBLs.
Do you mind if I record this?
RECEPTIONIST (over phone): Yeah, go ahead.
So which doctor are you looking into?
VAN ZELLER: Who does the cheapest procedure there, the cheapest BBL?
RECEPTIONIST (over phone): The cheapest right now it's
Dr. (bleep) and (bleep) both at 3,500.
VAN ZELLER: I'm not really sure.
I've heard good things about Dr. (bleep)
RECEPTIONIST (over phone): Yeah He's one of the leading doctors here as far as demand goes.
Dr. (bleep) has his BBLs right now at 5,700.
VAN ZELLER: 5,700.
And how many procedures does Dr. (bleep) do on average a day?
Just so I get an, a sense of his experience.
RECEPTIONIST (over phone): On average a day?
Roughly, I think about six to eight.
VAN ZELLER: Wow, that's a lot.
RECEPTIONIST (over phone): Yup.
That's, that's the limit for procedures in a day for a doctor.
VAN ZELLER: Wow. Okay. Sounds good.
Actually, if they're talking about six to eight BBLS a day,
it sounds anything but good.
I checked with a handful of experts including Dr. Okoro,
the board‐certified plastic surgeon in Atlanta,
who all say that three to four BBLS is the maximum number a
plastic surgeon could safely do in one day.
So how could anyone handle a caseload double the size?
Other sources we spoke with said it wasn't unusual for
surgeons at Jolie or previously at Encore and Vanity ,
to schedule as many as 10 BBLS a day.
Finally, we actually got somebody willing to talk to us.
A search for former employees leads me to Gena Hitchens who
worked at Jolie as a surgical coordinator.
She's promised to meet me, though she's warned us,
that she still works in the industry,
and needs to choose her words carefully.
Have you ever been there in one of these cases where
things went terribly wrong?
♪ ♪
♪ Bottles and models ♪
♪ Lil' mama look fit ♪
♪ I'mma hit like a throttle ♪
♪ She make it drop like a switch ♪
♪ I won't see her tomorrow ♪♪
VAN ZELLER: So Gena, tell me how you first heard about these clinics.
GENA: I started working at Jolie Plastic Surgery .
VAN ZELLER: Uh‐hmm.
GENA: And that was my first step into the plastic surgery world.
VAN ZELLER: How many clinics have you worked at?
GENA: Four.
VAN ZELLER: Have you ever been there in one of these cases
where things went terribly wrong?
GENA: Umm...
Yes, but I can't talk about it.
VAN ZELLER: More than once? GENA: No.
VAN ZELLER: Was it a death?
GENA: I'm not able to speak about it.
VAN ZELLER: Is a doctor actually capable of performing
eight procedures in a day?
GENA: I think once you start getting into the high numbers
is when you start looking for problems.
Or problems start looking for you.
VAN ZELLER: So why are they doing so many procedures a day?
GENA: Yeah.
I don't know that that's a question I wanna answer.
VAN ZELLER: But do you think a doctor is capable of operating
and doing eight BBLs a day?
GENA: They do it.
VAN ZELLER: How long does a BBL take?
GENA: The average BBL would probably be three and a half
to four hours.
VAN ZELLER: Of course, a surgeon wouldn't need to be in
the room the entire time.
But from our research, the two main procedures in a BBL,
liposuction and fat transfer take between two and three hours.
So a surgeon doing eight BBLS in a day would be facing
16 to 24 hours of surgery.
I guess the math then just doesn't add up.
So it's impossible for a doctor to be performing eight of
these a day.
GENA: Nothing is impossible.
VAN ZELLER: So pretty. It's like...
ANDRES: It's like a little oasis.
VAN ZELLER: With business booming at these clinics,
lawyer Andres Beregovich who's launched a number of cases
against these clinics, wants to give me a sense of just how much
money these clinic owners are making.
Look at that. Guy on a horse.
I'm most interested in one man in particular,
Dr. Ismael Labrador, the reported owner and operator of
Jolie and other cosmetic surgery centers.
What is this?
ANDRES: These are stables, part of an equestrian center
owned by Ismael Labrador and his wife.
It just goes to show you the significance of the money
that's generated by these surgery centers.
They're cash cows.
VAN ZELLER: In 2007, Dr. Labrador was arrested on
felony charges for allowing unlicensed workers to perform
medical procedures.
The felony charges were dropped after he entered a
court diversion program and he went on to start a string of
discount plastic surgery centers.
Here he is, in a 2018 deposition for a case where
a woman was injured during a procedure at one of his clinics,
a lawsuit that has since been settled.
INTERVIEWER: Specifically, what administrative tasks did
you have control over?
(speaking Spanish).
TRANSLATOR: The hours, the salary.
(speaking Spanish).
TRANSLATOR: The employees' qualifications.
VAN ZELLER: In past written statements,
Labrador has said doctors, not clinic owners,
are responsible for patient care and that all the doctors
he's hired have met the requirements of the state licensing board.
He's also claimed that the frequent name changes at his
clinics were made for marketing purposes,
not to avoid legal responsibility.
We reached out to him for comment.
He denied being the owner of Jolie and responded with a
request for $25,000 to sit for an interview,
and that's when we found a new source.
So I don't know a lot about this person,
I just know that he's willing to talk.
He's very, very nervous and anxious and super worried
about not revealing his identity.
I'm hoping he'll be able to help me unravel the inner
workings of these discount surgery clinics.
VOICE (over computer): Welcome. Please take your ticket. Please drive inside.
VAN ZELLER: I think he's here. I think that's him.
Yeah, it's definitely him.
So, thanks for meeting us.
To protect the identity of Juan Carlos,
there's little I can say about him,
other than he has spent time working at Jolie and a number
of other clinics, which we have verified.
We've been trying for months and months and months to try
to get somebody to talk to us.
So I really appreciate this.
VAN ZELLER: Reluctantly, but you accepted.
Why did you accept?
♪ ♪
VAN ZELLER: What exactly happens in these places?
VAN ZELLER: Ten to 12 patients per day, per doctor, per surgeon?
VAN ZELLER: As a surgical coordinator,
Juan Carlos was in charge of scheduling these surgeries for
a handful of doctors.
Although he worked in the admin offices upstairs,
he said he made daily trips to the operating rooms downstairs.
And routinely saw surgeons running multiple operating
rooms at the same time.
That meant that they weren't on hand for the entirety of
the procedures.
If that's true, then logically it must mean that the
operating room assistants, called surgical techs,
are doing at least part of these procedures.
Juan Carlos brought videos he claims to have captured on his
phone that seem to show just that.
Due to patient privacy, Juan Carlos would not allow us to
share the footage.
Though we can't independently confirm the authenticity of the videos,
in one of them, the staff uniforms clearly say Jolie .
Oh, what's happening here?
VAN ZELLER: And then what happens if something,
you know, if one of the surgeries gets,
you know, complicated?
VAN ZELLER: And considering the amount of deaths,
why hasn't anyone come out and spoken, like you?
VAN ZELLER: But you've felt some sort of guilt, right?
Or else you wouldn't be here now.
Or remorse or.
VAN ZELLER: Nobody gives a (bleep) about you, patients.
The deeper I dug into this world,
nothing felt more honest than that statement.
I presented Jolie's de facto owner,
Ismael Labrador, with Juan Carlos' claims.
Through his lawyer, he denied that surgical techs are
performing the surgeries and has threatened legal action.
It took me six months to track down a former employee willing
to speak on camera.
KAYLA (over computer): I mean, there's a lot of people that know about it
and are afraid to speak and I'm not one of them.
They can come find me for all I care.
VAN ZELLER: Kayla worked as a medical assistant at
Labrador's clinic when it was called Vanity and Encore ,
but before it was named Jolie .
How long were you there for?
KAYLA (over computer): Two years.
VAN ZELLER: What kind of patients did you guys see there?
KAYLA (over computer): We would have patients from everywhere that would come in.
Obviously because of this affordable pricing,
they were coming out of the state,
coming from another country.
Yeah.
It was a variety of patients.
VAN ZELLER: And once those patients went in for surgery,
what Kayla describes fits a similar pattern of behavior
that we heard from Juan Carlos as well as multiple others who
worked at Labrador's clinics and spoke to us off the record.
Doctors running multiple operating rooms,
and not being present for portions of risky operations.
KAYLA: There's more than one operating room for sure.
There were multiple surgeries happening at once.
We had at least five to six operating rooms.
VAN ZELLER: Florida law requires that anyone assisting
or participating in any surgical procedure must have, quote,
"Direct and immediate supervision of a licensed physician."
So would a surgeon overseeing multiple operating rooms
qualify as direct and immediate supervision?
I called former Department of Health inspector,
Jerome Hill to ask him this very question.
He believes the current law gives these clinics
too much wiggle room.
JEROME (over phone): Given the fact that you can have some typ
of medical procedure in one room and the supervision is
in another room two doors down, it is a stretch,
it is the latitude that they give,
the medical doctors here in Florida that it is so gross it
leaves an opening for malpractice by these doctors.
And it puts, more importantly, the citizens of Florida in jeopardy.
VAN ZELLER: Three board‐certified doctors we
spoke with all agree that from a medical perspective,
a surgeon must be in the room the entire procedure in order
to ensure a patient's safety.
Anything less than that, especially with a procedure
like a BBL is unusual and undoubtedly dangerous.
The picture of this industry painted by the many people we
spoke with is grim.
Which means that unless regulators step in or society
stops pressuring women to chase those perfect curves,
these tragedies are likely to continue.
VAN ZELLER: I mean, it's not even about the patient's life
anymore, right?
♪ ♪
Captioned by Cotter Media Group.