A 33-year-old man who died from heart failure during cosmetic surgery had been drinking and taking cocaine in the days before his death, a Dublin County Coroner’s Court inquest heard today.
Pierre Christian Lawlor of 60 Belarmine Place, Stepaside, Co Dublin, died on September 3rd last year from serious heart failure which occurred while he was undergoing cosmetic surgery in Bogota, Colombia.
Mr Lawlor, a qualified graphic designer, travelled to Colombia with his wife, Andrea Galeano, and their child, Zach, for a holiday during which time he intended to undergo the operation.
Ms Galeano told the inquest that her husband was not happy with his appearance, was paranoid about getting old and had received Botox injections in the past.
She said Mr Lawlor had looked into procedures prior to the visit to Colombia, and that the €3,500 operation he settled on was to involve him having surgery on parts of his face, as well as liposuction on his torso.
She said that against doctors' orders Mr Murphy had consumed alcohol prior to the procedure and that he had indicated to her that he had also been taking cocaine, although she did not see him consume the drug.
Ms Galeano said she left her husband in the medical centre before the operation and that when she returned some five hours later, the doctor told her there had been some complications.
Medical staff permitted her to enter the operating theatre where doctors attempted to resuscitate her husband, but they were unsuccessful, and she had to leave the room minutes later, the court heard.
State Pathologist Prof Marie Cassidy told the inquest that she was of the opinion “that his death should be classified as an operative death”.
She said there was no apparent complication but in that liposuction excessive amounts of fat are removed - which can provoke cardiac arrhythmia.
Coroner Kieran Geraghty recorded an open verdict in Mr Lawlor’s death which he said was caused by cardiac failure related to prolonged surgery.
