S.F. woman's death underlines dangers of most popular cosmetic surgery in U.S.
Carl T. Hall, Chronicle Staff Writer
Sunday, June 30, 2002
Tiffany Hall of San Francisco walked into the California Pacific Medical Center's Davies Hospital early one morning for what she hoped would be a simple little liposuction surgery.
The next morning, Hall, 31, a water-quality chemist for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, was dead.
Blood clots had migrated from her right calf into her lungs, one of the rare but troubling fatal complications of the fat-reduction surgery -- America's most popular cosmetic surgery procedure.
"A lot of people think this is a real easy thing to do," said Dr. Jon Grazer, a plastic surgeon in Newport Beach. "You are just making a tiny hole, but you are creating a big injury under the skin. You just don't see it."
Hall's death last month not only underscores just how unclear the risks of this surgery are -- but also how the plastic surgery field lacks a reporting system for "adverse events."
"There really aren't any reliable figures on this," said Dr. Ed Luce, president of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons and chief of plastic surgery at the University Hospital of Cleveland.
"A case like this really galvanizes attention. We need to be better organized in our examination of outcomes." ...
Tiffany Jo Hall, the daughter of Bobbie Jo Hall, a former UCSF administrative assistant now retired in Toledo, Ohio, hated that middle name.
She cared deeply about other people, and often volunteered for church and charity projects, but she also cared what people thought about her. She was fit and robust at 5-foot-5 and 151 pounds. She often rode her bike from her lower Haight Street apartment to her laboratory job at the city's southeast water treatment plant.
Friends and family members described her as attractive, well-respected by colleagues, working on a graduate degree. She was a "health fanatic," said Bobbie Jo.
"Tiffany really didn't have an ounce of fat on her," her mother said. "But she was self-conscious about her thighs."
Dr. Roy Kim, a board-certified plastic surgeon with offices on Castro Street, performed the surgery on Hall. It took about two hours for Kim to remove about 1,800 cubic centimeters (about 7.5 cups) -- a relatively minor liposuction.
There were no signs of any trouble. Hall was sent home to her Haight Street apartment after about four or five hours in the hospital recovery room. Her roommate, Leondrea Clark, fixed an early dinner. Hall went to bed, resting without complaint.
About 4:10 a.m. the next morning, May 24, Clark was awakened by a loud noise from Hall's bedroom. Clark found her lying unconscious on the bedroom floor. Paramedics were summoned, but Hall could not be revived. ...
Hall had none of the usual risk factors for blood clots and was not abusing any medications, according to a report at the San Francisco medical examiner's office.
Friedenthal said the seemingly unremarkable circumstances leading up to Hall's death make it "absolutely chilling."
"In medicine, we call something like this a 'sentinel event,' " he said. "The disturbing thing here is you had a healthy woman only 31 years old, who had an elective procedure, not a massive liposuction at all, by a board- certified surgeon in a top-rated hospital. Everything went fine, and she goes home and she dies." ...
Meanwhile, Hall's friends and family are struggling to come to terms.
"She was just a beautiful human being, a very positive, radiant person," said Lonnie Butler, a PUC colleague.
You was all smiles and no games
Teeth white as cocaine
Dark skin, knew about the struggle and the dope game
Quick to spark a convo into flames like propane
Filled the air, and I was thrilled you cared
In summer bridge hiding from the tutors
Bumpin gums about the future
You claimed that one day we'd be ruled by computers
I said, "It's like that now cause we all machines"
And you replied, "But I'm a robot with dreams"
Which I thought was clean
And all the fellas used to talk about ya
How you had a joyful aura and a walk about ya
Necessitated by a beautiful backside
We thought you was fine
And we didn't let the facts hide
Nevertheless we would call you "waddle waddle"
Somebody shoulda slapped us with an old hot water bottle
Could called you "talky talky" or nothing at all
I was crushed when I got the call
You had warmth and sincerity, a heart with no barriers
A laugh that made slightly funny turn hilarious
While everybody else mouthed off about answers
You got up and started workin with some ex-Black Panthers
Leadin campaigns and writin for they newspaper
You always seemed happy, an idea that I would lose later
We would see each other sayin stay in touch
But I was just like you - Always busy, in a rush
Told yo' mama I was writin this, she said it was blessin
I'm just chantin your name out loud and confessin
That maybe I was part of your demise
You went and got liposuction on your ass and thighs
Came straight home- As you slept that evenin'
Blood clots from the operation stopped you from breathin
Your shape was great if I may say so, way before J-Lo
Whoever told you it wasn't had horns not a halo
Or is it just that your behind was up to discuss?
Cause as a man, mine ain't talked about much
Dear Tiff, I wish the world wasn't missin' yo' vision
Sincerely, one mo' robot with a dream and a vision
Carl T. Hall, Chronicle Staff Writer
Sunday, June 30, 2002
Tiffany Hall of San Francisco walked into the California Pacific Medical Center's Davies Hospital early one morning for what she hoped would be a simple little liposuction surgery.
The next morning, Hall, 31, a water-quality chemist for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, was dead.
Blood clots had migrated from her right calf into her lungs, one of the rare but troubling fatal complications of the fat-reduction surgery -- America's most popular cosmetic surgery procedure.
"A lot of people think this is a real easy thing to do," said Dr. Jon Grazer, a plastic surgeon in Newport Beach. "You are just making a tiny hole, but you are creating a big injury under the skin. You just don't see it."
Hall's death last month not only underscores just how unclear the risks of this surgery are -- but also how the plastic surgery field lacks a reporting system for "adverse events."
"There really aren't any reliable figures on this," said Dr. Ed Luce, president of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons and chief of plastic surgery at the University Hospital of Cleveland.
"A case like this really galvanizes attention. We need to be better organized in our examination of outcomes." ...
Tiffany Jo Hall, the daughter of Bobbie Jo Hall, a former UCSF administrative assistant now retired in Toledo, Ohio, hated that middle name.
She cared deeply about other people, and often volunteered for church and charity projects, but she also cared what people thought about her. She was fit and robust at 5-foot-5 and 151 pounds. She often rode her bike from her lower Haight Street apartment to her laboratory job at the city's southeast water treatment plant.
Friends and family members described her as attractive, well-respected by colleagues, working on a graduate degree. She was a "health fanatic," said Bobbie Jo.
"Tiffany really didn't have an ounce of fat on her," her mother said. "But she was self-conscious about her thighs."
Dr. Roy Kim, a board-certified plastic surgeon with offices on Castro Street, performed the surgery on Hall. It took about two hours for Kim to remove about 1,800 cubic centimeters (about 7.5 cups) -- a relatively minor liposuction.
There were no signs of any trouble. Hall was sent home to her Haight Street apartment after about four or five hours in the hospital recovery room. Her roommate, Leondrea Clark, fixed an early dinner. Hall went to bed, resting without complaint.
About 4:10 a.m. the next morning, May 24, Clark was awakened by a loud noise from Hall's bedroom. Clark found her lying unconscious on the bedroom floor. Paramedics were summoned, but Hall could not be revived. ...
Hall had none of the usual risk factors for blood clots and was not abusing any medications, according to a report at the San Francisco medical examiner's office.
Friedenthal said the seemingly unremarkable circumstances leading up to Hall's death make it "absolutely chilling."
"In medicine, we call something like this a 'sentinel event,' " he said. "The disturbing thing here is you had a healthy woman only 31 years old, who had an elective procedure, not a massive liposuction at all, by a board- certified surgeon in a top-rated hospital. Everything went fine, and she goes home and she dies." ...
Meanwhile, Hall's friends and family are struggling to come to terms.
"She was just a beautiful human being, a very positive, radiant person," said Lonnie Butler, a PUC colleague.
You was all smiles and no games
Teeth white as cocaine
Dark skin, knew about the struggle and the dope game
Quick to spark a convo into flames like propane
Filled the air, and I was thrilled you cared
In summer bridge hiding from the tutors
Bumpin gums about the future
You claimed that one day we'd be ruled by computers
I said, "It's like that now cause we all machines"
And you replied, "But I'm a robot with dreams"
Which I thought was clean
And all the fellas used to talk about ya
How you had a joyful aura and a walk about ya
Necessitated by a beautiful backside
We thought you was fine
And we didn't let the facts hide
Nevertheless we would call you "waddle waddle"
Somebody shoulda slapped us with an old hot water bottle
Could called you "talky talky" or nothing at all
I was crushed when I got the call
You had warmth and sincerity, a heart with no barriers
A laugh that made slightly funny turn hilarious
While everybody else mouthed off about answers
You got up and started workin with some ex-Black Panthers
Leadin campaigns and writin for they newspaper
You always seemed happy, an idea that I would lose later
We would see each other sayin stay in touch
But I was just like you - Always busy, in a rush
Told yo' mama I was writin this, she said it was blessin
I'm just chantin your name out loud and confessin
That maybe I was part of your demise
You went and got liposuction on your ass and thighs
Came straight home- As you slept that evenin'
Blood clots from the operation stopped you from breathin
Your shape was great if I may say so, way before J-Lo
Whoever told you it wasn't had horns not a halo
Or is it just that your behind was up to discuss?
Cause as a man, mine ain't talked about much
Dear Tiff, I wish the world wasn't missin' yo' vision
Sincerely, one mo' robot with a dream and a vision