Friday, July 29, 2011 | 1:51 p.m.
A husband and wife who performed an illegal buttocks enhancement surgery that resulted in a Las Vegas woman's death are expected to plead guilty to manslaughter despite an autopsy report that shows the death was accidental.
Elena Caro, 42, died from an allergic reaction to the tumescent anesthesia commonly used in cosmetic surgery procedures, Clark County Coroner Mike Murphy said Friday.
But it is unlikely that Ruben Matallana-Galvas and wife Carmen Torres-Sanchez, of Colombia, would be able to successfully fight the criminal case against them because the death still occurred during an illegal operation in which proper safety procedures were not followed, according to Matallana-Galvas's defense attorney. The couple is expected to plead guilty to reduced charges when they return to court Thursday under a plea deal.
Matallana-Galvas knows his makeshift medical office did not have the proper tools to care for Caro, his lawyer said.
"The doctor didn't take the actions that we hope he would take in light of the bad reaction," said public defender Scott Coffee. "He feels terrible for what happened and he wants to take responsibility for what he did."
Matallana-Galvas and Torres-Sanchez are charged with multiple crimes for Caro's death, including second-degree murder and practicing medicine without a license. They pleaded not guilty in May and were scheduled to stand trial in February.
But prosecutors have been working to avoid trial by persuading the husband and wife to plead guilty to manslaughter and practicing without a medical license. Matallana-Galvas attempted to go along with the deal during a hearing last week. He withdrew his not guilty plea and pleaded guilty, but the agreement was dropped when Torres-Sanchez refused to plead guilty.
Now she's expected to take the deal at the hearing scheduled for Thursday.
The husband and wife conducted the April procedure on Caro in a makeshift medical clinic in the back of a Las Vegas tile shop and were not licensed to practice medicine anywhere in the United States.
A lawyer representing Torres-Sanchez could not immediately be reached for comment.
Coffee said the autopsy report did not come as a surprise.
"The case is pretty much exactly what we thought it was from the beginning, which is it's a medical procedure where no one attended to do harm to this woman whatsoever," he said.
Several Las Vegas plastic surgeons told The Associated Press that medical officials are expected to monitor a patient after administering anesthesia to prevent mishaps.
