Liposuction and Plastic Surgery Information - Two Physicians and a Therapist Are Charged over liposuction deaths

Two Physicians and a Therapist Are Charged over liposuction deaths

Thursday, 07 May 2009

A surgeon named Peter Normann, his assistant Jose Andres Lopez, and Gary Page, a homeopathist, are facing allegations extending from second-degree murder and manslaughter to practicing medicine without a license because of the office procedures that caused the death of three patients.

The charges that were brought out by a Maricopa County grand jury on Friday and Monday came 15 months after the surgeon's office in Anthem was closed and about two years after the death of the first of the three patients due to procedures performed at the office.

Normann performed liposuction surgeries and other cosmetic procedures on the patients. He has been indicted in the Superior Court with two counts of second-degree murder and one count of manslaughter. The homeopathist Page was charged with one count of manslaughter. Normann's assistant, Lopez, who is a licensed massage therapist, was charged with eight counts of practicing medicine without a license from September 2006 to April 2007.

In July 2007, this issue was brought to national attention when the Arizona Medical Board suspended Normann's license, which was one week after Leslie Ann Ray (the third patient) died. The Board had already prohibited Normann from conducting liposuction operations after the deaths of Ralph Gonzalez and Alicia Santizo Blanco in December 2006 and April 2007, respectively. Page conducted the procedure on Ray after Normann went to him. However, Page, who had a license in homeopathisty, was not at all certified to conduct invasive medical operations. He surrendered his license in March.

Relatives of Gonzalez and Blanco filed suits against Normann. However, these were dismissed when Normann filed for bankruptcy and then left the country.

Page and Lopez were taken into custody at the Maricopa County Jail and were eventually discharged. The Sheriff's Office is about to obtain a warrant to arrest Normann, who was said to be in Germany. The three could not be located to provide any comments.

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