Woman dies at 28 after plastic surgery; cause of death revealed
A 28-year-old woman who traveled from Las Vegas to Miami for plastic surgery died hours later at a recovery house.
Local media outlet NBC6 South Florida reported that last March 5, Ahmonique Miller and her younger sister Kiera Barnes underwent cosmetic procedures at Avana Plastic Surgery.
Miller had a Brazilian butt lift, a procedure that enhances the shape and size of the butt by transferring fat from other areas of the body, and liposuction, a technique that removes excess fat from areas of the body, according to Daily Mail.
Miller and Barnes stayed at a recovery house following the procedure and slept.
But later on, Barnes found Miller “cold and still in the same position as when they fell asleep.”
PEOPLE Magazine, citing a Miami Police incident report, reported that Miller was "put to bed for rest" between noon and 1 p.m., and "at approximately 9:30 p.m., concerns were raised that Miller had not woken up, so staff checked on her."
Staff called 911 when she was "unresponsive."
Miller died on March 7. Her time of death was 10:26 p.m.
Police said Miller was "exhibiting signs of rigor mortis," while "heavily bandaged" and lying "face down" on a bed. It also called the scene "an illegal post-plastic-surgery recovery home," saying it's a facility "operating under the name Keyla's Service."
The Miami-Dade Medical Examiner's office, in its report, said Miller's cause of death was acute combined drug toxicity.
According to the report, they found a mix of the prescription painkiller oxycodone and an unregulated drug called bromazolam, which was described in its report as a “potent designer…[drug] commonly found in counterfeit pills or powders.”
The office pointed out that “the use of these drugs in the hours following [Miller's] procedure are responsible for the fatal outcome," adding that the combined use of the two drugs “impacts breathing and increases risk of death during sleep.”
Keyla Oliver, the owner of the recovery house, meanwhile, told investigators that she gave Miller two pieces of Percocet, a combination opioid prescription drug, and that she "did not have a license to practice medicine."
But Barnes said that aside from two pieces of Percocet from an "unlabeled pill bottle," Oliver gave Miller an unknown number of muscle relaxers from Barnes' prescription as Miller's “medication was not ready."
Oliver also previously told investigators that Miller was "only given prescription pills at the recovery house."
Miller is leaving behind a one-year-old daughter.
