Silicone Injections Caused Bronx Woman's Wrongful Death

New York, NYThey're called 'pumping parties' and you definitely don't want to go to one if you value your life. That's because, more often than not non-licensed purveyors of silicone inject gobs of medical, or even industrial-grade silicone into thighs, buttocks and other places to enhance the human body. Silicone was never approved for injection into soft tissue. It could kill you by way of wrongful death.

The family of Fiordaliza Pichardo knows this all too well. The New York woman started receiving silicone injections several years ago to augment her thighs and buttocks. A cosmetician would come to her home on a regular basis and inject from one-half, to two cups of silicone at a cost of about $800 per cup.

Her last injection was March 17th—St. Patrick's Day. It would be her last.

Pichardo died the next day from what medical authorities initially thought was pneumonia. It wasn't until an autopsy revealed the presence of massive amounts of silicone that the true nature of the Bronx woman's death was revealed. Her family had not thought to mention the silicone injections to the coroner, and X-rays do not typically pick up pockets of silicone in the body.

However, there is little doubt that silicone killed Pichardo. The medical examiner determined a silicone embolism in her lungs caused her death.

Over the years the use of silicone for cosmetic purposes has grown way beyond Botox injections to smooth wrinkles between the eyes—the only cosmetic use for non-encapsulated medical silicone approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The illegal use of silicone has gone underground as a cheap-and-instant alternative to cosmetic surgery.

"This seems to be kind of an underground occurrence, so it's difficult to get numbers of actual events and to know exactly what these people are being injected with," says Siobhan DeLancey, a spokesperson for the FDA. "It's important to note that none of the products that are reportedly being used are approved for this purpose."

Silicone is an approved substance for cosmetic use around the eyes, together with specific implants where the silicone is contained and cannot migrate to other areas of the body. Indeed, the potentiality for Botox injection to migrate to other areas of the human body is a continuing concern.

However, this story takes the issue to a whole new level, in that silicone was never approved for injection into soft tissue. And people are getting silicone injections by the cupful. While side effects are still fairly rare, the possibility exists whereby the silicone will migrate through the bloodstream, resulting in a potentially fatal clot in the lungs.

That's what caused the wrongful death of Fiordaliza Pichardo. The silicone can also migrate through tissue and leave the host with ugly lumps and chronic pain.

The human body is a moving entity, after all. There is no guarantee that such an injection, without being contained, will stay exactly where you put it.

Thus, a risk that is further heightened by the amount of underground activity going on, not to mention the material that is often used. The best a silicone injection client could hope for, in spite of the risk for silicone migration and the chance for killer side effects, is the use of medical-grade silicone.

However, were a silicone client to attend any number of popular 'pumping parties' that are staged in homes, makeshift offices and even motel rooms, you could be getting the real thing…

Or, you could be getting industrial-grade silicone that can be purchased at the hardware store. There have even been reports of substitutes such as castor oil, mineral oil and petroleum jelly.

Even transmission fluid.

While the wrongful death of Fiordaliza Pichardo is isolated, the fact remains that many cases go unreported because there is no legal requirement for a doctor to report silicone poisoning or even death, according to the New York Times. As well, given the fact that silicone does not show up in X-rays of CT scans, it's hard to detect.

As an example, the New York Times carried the report of a woman who came into New York Methodist Hospital in 2007 complaining of chest pain, coughing and shortness of breath—complaints that are classic symptoms of pneumonia. But she also told doctors that she had been injected with about 500 ml of silicone in each buttock about a half-hour earlier.

A conclusive diagnosis would have been difficult without a biopsy, so doctors diagnosed the woman based on her symptoms and the information she gave with regard to silicone. She received the required treatment and survived.

In the case of Pichardo, her silicone was injected by a licensed cosmetologist. However, that doesn't suggest that the practice is legal. Whenever a product is used for a purpose other than that for which it is approved by the FDA, it is illegal. Only a doctor has the authority to use a product for any purpose other than its approved use.

Pichardo's family says the cosmetologist came by the day after Fiordaliza died to pay her respects. Then she disappeared. Authorities believe she has fled the country and are working on the assumption she is back in her native Dominican Republic, presumably fearing prosecution from wrongful death.

Thus, a warning to all who practice in the underground, or illegal silicone world. A reminder that silicone is only approved for cosmetic use, for the lines between the eyes. That's it. Only a doctor has the authority to inject it elsewhere—and given the cases where silicone has migrated away from the injection site, the client faces a risk there.

That said, if you are injecting silicone of any kind into any other part of the human body and you're not a doctor, you are doing so beyond the approval of the FDA and are doing so illegally.
If a wrongful death occurs, you could be sued.

And if you have been harmed in any way by a silicone injection—or worse, wrongful death of a loved one has occurred as a result—you should seek the services of a qualified wrongful death attorney.