CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- A Brazilian woman charged with her ex-husband in a fatal liposuction procedure did not assist in the surgery and wasn't even in the room when the operation was performed, her lawyer said Wednesday, as he asked a judge to dismiss the manslaughter charges against her.
Ana Maria Miranda Ribeiro is accused of acting as a nurse for her ex-husband, Luiz Carlos Ribeiro, as he performed the surgery on July 30 in the basement of a Framingham condominium. Fabiola DePaula, 24, died of complications from the surgery, including pulmonary fat emboli, or fat particles in the lungs.
Luiz Carlos Ribeiro was licensed to practice medicine in Brazil, but not in the United States.
Ana Ribeiro's lawyer, Michael Brennan, said she was outside smoking a cigarette during the surgery and only came inside when she heard her husband yelling for help when something went wrong.
"No one ever saw her in the operating room with the deceased," Brennan said, arguing prosecutors did not present enough evidence to a grand jury to warrant a manslaughter indictment.
But Assistant District Attorney Lee Hettinger said prosecutors believed Ana Ribeiro did assist her husband in the surgery. Hettinger said although no one saw her in the operating room, several witnesses saw her wearing surgical gloves and helping her husband perform CPR on DePaula.
"She was wearing medical gloves because she was participating," Hettinger said. "I would suggest there is a reasonable inference that can be drawn."
Hettinger said witnesses also told authorities Ana Ribeiro assisted her husband during a different cosmetic procedure in the same basement the day before DePaula died.
Middlesex Superior Court Judge Stephen Neel did not immediately rule on the motion to dismiss the charges.
Luiz Ribeiro is accused of performing surgery without a medical license, while his former wife is accused of assisting him during the surgery and administering drugs used in the procedure. Both were indicted on manslaughter and drug counts.
The case exposed an underground cosmetic-surgery network used by immigrants from Brazil, where plastic surgery is popular.
Authorities have said that Luiz Ribeiro performed liposuction, nose jobs and Botox injections for three years in the Framingham area, mostly for the town's large Brazilian immigrant population.
The Ribeiros, both 49, are from Belo Horizonte, Brazil, and had been traveling between Brazil and Massachusetts on a regular basis for two or three years, according to prosecutors.
Brennan disputed that, saying the couple had been separated for five years before DePaula's death and that they are now divorced. He said Ana Ribeiro had assisted her ex-husband in one or two procedures by handing him medical instruments, but did not do surgeries with him on a regular basis.
But Hettinger said the Ribeiros had a "business relationship" to perform illegal cosmetic surgeries.
Prosecutors have said previously that doctors in a hospital could have dealt with the complications during DePaula's surgery.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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