“I didn’t realize my child was dying.” In her home in Saint-Lambert, Anne-Marie Wilson looks at photos of her eldest daughter, Florence McConnell. “She really liked princesses,” she says. A little over two years ago, Florence, then 26, flew to Morocco to undergo liposuction in the hopes of regaining a healthy relationship with her body. Instead, she died there.
“She had been dieting and working out all her life. She would lose weight and gain it back,” says Anne-Marie Wilson. Florence’s sister, Viviane, says she was bullied at school. She believes society put pressure on her to meet certain standards of beauty. “We’re all on social media. It’s so easy to compare ourselves to the thinnest, the most beautiful.”
However, on social networks, the use of plastic surgery in countries where these procedures are offered at low prices is now widely publicized, particularly through numerous positive testimonials.
“I’m getting a breast lift, a full tummy tuck, liposuction, breast augmentation and a Brazilian butt lift for $10,000,” says content creator Erin Jeanne, who traveled to Mexico for a “ mommy makeover “, a term referring to cosmetic procedures performed following pregnancy. The total bill for these same procedures would be between $30,000 and $42,000 in Montreal, according to a review conducted by the McRae Plastic Surgery clinic.
A well kept secret
At the end of 2021, the idea of liposuction began to take shape in Florence’s mind. She discussed it with her mother, who had recently moved to Morocco for work. She put her in touch with a Moroccan surgeon, Salma Ouezzani, who had practiced in Quebec until her resignation from the Collège des médecins in 2021. “In my mind, [Florence] would be operated on by a doctor who knows North American standards,” explains Anne-Marie Wilson.
The operation takes place in May 2022. Few people around Florence know that she is on the operating table. “We never talked about why she was going there,” says her father, Brian McConnell, who we met at the club cheerleading Flames, which included Florence. He learned that his daughter had undergone surgery only hours before she died. “She saw it as the only solution, and then she was afraid she would be discouraged by it [par l’un de ses proches]explains Anne-Marie Wilson. Honestly, we had discussed it, but we had thought very little about the risks.
An operation that turns into a tragedy
Anne-Marie Wilson remembers that surgeon Salma Ouezzani was very optimistic when she visited Florence in the post-operative unit the afternoon after the operation. “Florence didn’t come back to the room until early evening. I felt that things weren’t going very well.”
In the days that followed, Florence’s condition deteriorated. “On Friday morning, very early, she texted me — she was still able to text with one finger — and she said, ‘Come on.’ I arrived, and then I saw the famous machines linked to the heart. Then I understood that things were really not going well.”
The D clinicD Ouezzani did not respond to our interview requests.
A few days after Florence’s death, Anne-Marie Wilson was able to consult the Moroccan autopsy report and copy its conclusion. It noted that multiple organ failures following liposuction and abdominal trauma had led to a fat embolism. The family has taken legal action in Morocco to shed light on the events.
Rare cases
There is no coroner’s report signed in the last 10 years that deals with a death of this type, according to the responses provided to our requests by the Coroner’s Office. Quebec coroner Jacques Ramsay is in charge of investigating Florence’s death, but the process is suspended until the end of the Moroccan investigation procedure.
The case of Mélanie Jutras, who died following bariatric surgery in Tunisia, recently made headlines. She had done business with the Montreal-based medical tourism agency Medcare Vacances, which specializes in cosmetic, bariatric and dental surgeries performed abroad.
Could these deaths have been avoided if the procedures had been performed in Quebec? According to the president of the Association of Specialists in Plastic and Aesthetic Surgery of Quebec, Dr.r Eric Bensimon, the standards are not the same everywhere in the world. “There are many places that offer surgeries abroad. We don’t know the details of the situation. What we do know, for example, is that we see a considerable number of patients who come back with problems that need to be taken care of in hospital, such as infections or bleeding. We also often see patients whose healing has not been ideal,” he explains.
The influence of social networks
Brian McConnell wanted his daughter’s story to be told so that her death would not be in vain. “All these people who cheat with reality make a lot of young girls and boys feel bad about themselves, feel bad about their bodies. I think it’s outrageous.” He would like to see more regulation of these messages.
The Dr Eric Bensimon agrees. “Here, ethically, we will be asked not to be too aggressive on this type of message that encourages the consumption of[interventions esthétiques]. […] If Quebec patients are exposed to this type of advertising, it may be time for the authorities to regulate it a little more.”
Viviane McConnell understands what her sister was going through, but she wishes she had used other avenues than surgery to treat her discomfort. “Everyone has their own complexes, but I think there are other solutions before going there. I myself can be influenced. I’m a young girl, and it’s easy with social networks.”