Teen Dies After Breast Augmentation Surgery
Captain Of Cheerleading Team Wanted To Be Surgeon
POSTED: Tuesday, March 25, 2008
BOCA RATON, Fla. -- A viewing was held Tuesday for an 18-year-old high school student who died over the weekend from complications of plastic surgery.West Boca Raton High School senior Stephanie Kuleba was the captain of the varsity cheerleading team who was fielding scholarship offers from Tulane University, Florida State University and the University of Florida. But her life was cut short Saturday after she suffered a fatal reaction to anesthesia while undergoing breast augmentation surgery."She had been rushed to Delray Medical Center, where basically 24 hours later, she died," Roberto Stanziale, an attorney for the family told ABC News.Outside West Boca Raton High School Tuesday, flowers, candles and pom-poms mark the memory of the senior whose death came as a surprise to friends."This is just hard on all of us because we all lost a friend out of nowhere. No one knew anything. I think we're all in shock over the whole thing. It's just really hard," said classmate Brooke Golob.Kuleba died last Friday during a corrective surgery to repair congenital defects in her breasts. Implants were part of the elective procedure. The family's attorney said the young woman wanted the abnormalities corrected before going to college next year."Her main purpose for having this procedure done was to fix those type of defects and was not solely for the purposes of enhancement," said Stanziale.The procedure was done in a doctor's surgical clinic, not a hospital. According to Stanziale, nearly two hours into the surgery Kuleba suffered a reaction to the anesthesia called "malignant hyperthermia." which is caused by a rare genetic disorder. It caused her heart rate and body temperature to soar. She was rushed to Delray Medical Center where she died on Saturday.The incident points to the increasing popularity of cosmetic surgery among teens and the inherent dangers of such procedures. According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, the number of breast augmentations increased six percent from 2006 to 2007.Board-certified plastic surgeon Dr. Steven Shuster performed the surgery at an outpatient facility in Boca Raton."I'm devastated by the loss and I feel for the family," he said in a statement.
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