A 19-year-old medical student died during a botched liposuction operation she was awarded for winning her local beauty competition, according to local reports.
Catherine Cando, a part-time glamour model, won the competition last year and was crowned winner of the Queen of Duran beauty contest, in Ecuador, New York Daily News reported. The victory included a ton of prizes, including a 2015 Aveo car, a smart tablet and a free course of cosmetic surgery treatments.
In October, the Ecuadorian beauty queen refused to undergo a slimming procedure after judges in the competition recommended she lose some weight. Instead, she argued she would be able to work off the excess weight with diet and exercise, her brother told local media.
However after being pressured by a surgeon, her brother says she finally agreed to the operation. "Before having the surgery, she received a lot of calls from the surgeon trying to persuade her to do it, but she kept saying no," said her brother, Daniel Zavela.
"She was thinking about letting someone else have it as a freebie but eventually she agreed to have it just to get him off her back," he said.
On Jan. 10, the Catholic University of Santiago de Guayaquil student died during the botched liposuction operation at a private clinic, according to Ecuadorian newspaper El Telegrafo.
"I was told she had died of a brain edema," lawyer Carlos Reyes Izquierdo said. "But the clinic staff told her relatives that she had died of a cardiac arrest."
"I have ordered cytological and pathological examinations to find out what exactly happened," he continued. "However, it can be presumed as negligence because there has been no support from doctors who have failed to explain anything about the case."
Following accusations of medical malpractice, two doctors who performed the surgery have been charged with negligence, UK MailOnline reported.
"The doctors in question have been arrested to prevent them from leaving the county," the family's attorney added.
Meanwhile, an investigation into the aspiring doctor's tragic death is currently underway.
