A grieving grandfather told of the pain he felt explaining to his two grandsons that their mother had died during a botched breast augmentation.
David Gorey told the hearing in San Diego that the nature of his late daughter Megan Espinoza’s death in January 2019 needed to be clarified for the boys, who were 3 and 6 at the time.
Gorey said the following when surgeon Carlos Chacon was sentenced to three years in prison on Friday: “I am sure this court understands how painful and heartbreaking it is to have to tell this version of events to two young boys who do not understand why their lives have been turned upside down without their mother.”
Megan was a 36-year-old preschool teacher when she checked in for breast augmentation at Divino Plastic Surgery six days before Christmas 2018.
During surgery, she went into cardiac arrest. Chacon and his nurse, Heather Lang Vass, 44, failed to call 911 for three hours.
Megan was taken to the hospital in a coma and died a month later. Chacon instructed Vass and other colleagues to give Megan anesthesia, even though they were not qualified to do so.
He avoided calling 911 after Megan had a heart attack because he was afraid the sight of an ambulance would scare off his other patients.
Chacon and Vass both pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, with Vass receiving a two-year prison sentence. The pair also surrendered their medical licenses.
Megan’s widower Moises Espinoza also spoke at Friday’s sentencing, saying, “It’s hard to live without Megan in my life. I’m trying for my kids… but I’m robbed,” Moises said, holding back tears.
Megan’s widower said his sons “will never understand a mother’s love.”
Moises Espinoza lost his wife and mother of his children, Megan Espinoza, 36, after her medical team wrongly and without a license administered a lethal dose of anesthesia
Appearing in court with his late wife’s parents on Friday, Moises gave heartbreaking statements detailing the difficulty he had in explaining to his young sons — who were three and six at the time of her death — why their mother wasn’t coming home.
South Bay surgeon Carlos Chacon, 49, and nurse Heather Lang Vass, 44, have pleaded guilty to their roles in the Dec. 19, 2018, surgery that led to the death of the mother of two and kindergarten teacher
Superior Court Judge Maryann D’Addezio said during the hearing that Chacon’s decision not to call 911 was “inexplicable” and “unjust.”
“I am sure this court can understand how painful and heartbreaking it is to have to tell this version of events to two young boys who do not understand why their lives have been turned upside down without their mother,” Megan’s father, David Gorcey, said Friday.
District Court Judge Maryann D’Addezio said during the hearing that Chacon’s decision not to call 911 was “inexplicable” and “unjust.”
“You only thought about yourself,” D’Addezio said.
The hearing also discussed an incident nearly six months before the fateful procedure, in which Vass over-medicated a patient and she could not be woken from her anaesthetic.
The woman was handed over to family members and Chacon ordered them to let her “sleep it off,” the judge said, describing the incident as evidence of “your lack of concern for your patients.”
Chacon and Vass both apologized during the sentencing.
“I am deeply sorry for the immense pain and suffering that my failure to fulfill my duty has caused to those who know, knew and loved her,” Chacon told the court.
“I can’t undo what happened and it haunts me every day. She trusted me with her care and I failed her.”
Vass said Megan’s death made her even sadder as she was now a mother. She said she was “deeply and sincerely sorry” and that Megan’s death “will haunt me for the rest of my life.”