A Florida woman pretending to be a licensed plastic surgeon has been arrested mid-surgery. The arrest followed a complaint from a patient for another procedure she preformed which resulted in a botched nose job.
Alcalira Jimenez De Rodriguez, 56, was apprehended Thursday at her practice at Millennium Anti-Aging and Surgery Center by police responding to a patient's claims his nose was disfigured after she had administered surgery to him, according to a police report from Doral Police Department cited by Tampa Bay Times. She was in the middle of another procedure when police arrested her.
Vincenzo Zurlo first saw Jimenez de Rodriguez for rhinoplasty surgery Feb. 15, 2020, but weeks later he noticed his nose was not healing correctly. He scheduled a second appointment and underwent surgery again May 30, 2020, but again it did not heal properly and he noticed his nose was deformed.
"My nose wasn't right. I had this lump close to the tip of my nose, and she was finding excuses," Zurlo told 7News. "Then [she said] it was 'liquid accumulated,' but no, it was not. It was something that was wrong."
Zurlo contacted Jimenez de Rodriguez, requesting she provide him with her license number and medical malpractice insurance information, but she reportedly refused. Zurlo then called law enforcement who investigated the claim.
Jimenez De Rodriguez was charged with practicing medicine without a license and resisting arrest without violence, Tampa Bay Times reported. Police said, because of Zurlo's disfigurement, the first charge was elevated to a second-degree felony. Jimenez de Rodriguez's office has since been shut down by the City of Doral.
Speaking of the ordeal, Zurlo said he felt "abused" by Jimenez De Rodriguez.
"I feel that somebody used me as a piece of meat, just because she decided that one day she would like to play a plastic surgeon," he said. "No, we are in the great United States over here, and if you want to do what you are good to do, get your license, go to study and don't play with the human life."
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