Law enforcement has officially charged a California plastic surgeon with the murder of a patient.
Allegedly, the surgeon, Dr. Carlos Chacon, refused to call 911 after the patient, Megan Espinoza, went into cardiac arrest while undergoing a breast augmentation.
According to NBC San Diego, the 36-year-old mother of two went into cardiac arrest during the procedure at Divino Surgery Center in Bonita, California, back in December 2018.
Per reports from San Diego County Deputy District Attorney Gina Darva, the doctor waited three hours before calling emergency personnel and prohibited his employees from doing so, resulting in Espinoza’s death.
NBC reports, “the surgeon left Espinoza in the operating suite to tend to four other patients as she lay dying.”
Charon was initially charged with involuntary manslaughter. But after an investigation, Deputy Darva changed the indictment to murder on Monday.
The news outlet also reported that Charon allegedly lied to the patient’s husband about her condition after he referred her to other doctors on how to proceed. He did not inform them of the patient’s medical condition either.
Darva reported to the court that Chacon lied to the 911 operator to cover up the crime.
In a statement, Darvas said, “He can’t be providing life-saving treatment to the victim on the table when he’s in his practice seeing other patients. We found that to be extremely egregious.”
His allegedly long list of unethical decisions continued as authorities claimed he used an untrained nurse to administer anesthesia.
Chacon pleaded not guilty to all charges. His defense attorney Marc Carlos stated that his client’s accusations were “unique, extraordinary, and unfair.”
“Despite what the prosecution says about these interviews with individuals, nothing has changed from a medical perspective. It is the same case,” Carlos told the news station. “So, now to ramp this up to a murder charge is something I’ve never seen. I’ve been practicing for 30 years in criminal defense, and I’ve never seen anything like this.”
The surgeon’s bail is set at $500,000, and is set to return to court on June 5.
Currently, the California Medical Board is investigating removing his medical license.
Espinoza’s family made a statement based on the court’s findings:
“The Espinoza and Gorcey families hope to see justice done for Megan. We eagerly await the next steps in this case and ultimately hope for legislative changes that will prevent this type of tragedy from happening again and ensure the public is properly informed regarding the medical professionals they seek care from.”
