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A South Bay plastic surgeon and a nurse pleaded not guilty this week to involuntary manslaughter in the death of a 36-year-old patient who reportedly spent nearly three hours in distress during surgery before anyone called 911.
Dr. Carlos Chacon and registered nurse Heather Lang are accused in the death of Megan Espinoza, who reportedly suffered cardiac arrest during breast augmentation surgery at Chacon’s Divino Surgery Center in Bonita on Dec. 19, 2018.
They are also accused of ordering an unlicensed medical assistant to inject medication into Espinoza’s IV during the operation.
Chacon and Lang were arraigned Monday in Chula Vista Superior Court. Chacon faces up to five years, four months in prison if convicted of all charges. Lang faces four years, eight months.
The case came to the attention of the District Attorney’s Office when it was referred by the Medical Board of California for potential criminal prosecution, Deputy District Attorney Gina Darvas said.
Darvas said one of the paramedics filed a complaint with the state board after being “horrified by the condition of the patient when they arrived” at the defendant’s surgery center.
“We have multiple medical expert opinions who found that both defendants were grossly negligent in their failure to properly handle the emergency,” Darvas said. “In our opinion, the gross negligence is criminal negligence.”
Chacon’s attorney Marc Carlos said Tuesday that the allegations “will be vigorously defended.”
“Dr. Chacon has been practicing for over a decade and has served thousands of patients. ... There have been no previous accusations of wrongdoing,” the attorney said in an email.
“Dr. Chacon acted pursuant to his duties as a licensed physician. This was an unfortunate accident and we believe the facts will bear this out,” he said.
Lang’s attorney, Domenic Lombardo, said in an email that Espinoza’s death was “a tragic and unexpected nightmare for all parties involved.”
“The fact that it took three years to file charges demonstrates the complexity involved in bringing allegations against a licensed nurse who was acting at all times under the direction and control of a licensed physician,” Lombardo said.
“We welcome our turn at evaluating the evidence and conducting our own investigation.”
According to Darvas, Espinoza was about two hours into the breast augmentation surgery, which was nearly complete, when she went into cardiac arrest and had no pulse.
The prosecutor said the doctor and nurse began resuscitation efforts, and that while Chacon was able to get her pulse back, Espinoza did not regain consciousness nor could she breathe on her own.
Darvas said that as Lang continued to squeeze a bag-valve mask to get air to Espinoza, Chacon left the operating room several times to call other doctors for advice — one of whom told Chacon to call paramedics because the patient needed to be intubated.
The patient’s condition reportedly continued to deteriorate. Nearly three hours after Espinoza went into cardiac arrest, Chacon called 911, Darvas said. Espinoza was taken to a hospital, intubated and placed in the intensive care unit.
Espinoza never woke up nor regained the ability to breathe on her own. She died Jan. 28, 2019, more than six weeks after the operation.
The preliminary hearing for Chacon and Lang is scheduled for late March.
On Tuesday, a day after the arraignment, the state’s medical board filed an accusation against Chacon, seeking to revoke or suspend his license.
Espinoza’s family filed a civil suit against Chacon and others. That case is pending.
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