A Riverside, Calif., plastic surgeon has been cleared of wrongdoing following a lawsuit brought by the family of a woman who died of a post-operative infection after undergoing extensive plastic surgery.

Patient Marilyn Meis underwent elective plastic surgery at the hands of Robert A. Hardesty, MD, of Plastic Surgery Specialists and Services, Inc., on May 16, 2007. Dr. Hardesty performed bilateral subpectoral breast augmentation, bilateral mastopexy, bilateral capsulectomy, upper buttock thighplasty, extended thighplasty, liposuction of the abdomen and fat transfer to the lips and nasolabial folds.

Plaintiffs Jillian Goodman and Christopher Nufer, the patient's sister and brother, alleged that throughout several post-operative check-ups Dr. Hardesty negligently failed to diagnose an infection that Ms. Meis had developed after the May 2007 procedure, according to court documents. The plaintiffs further alleged wrongful death and Plastic Surgery Specialists and Services' corporate liability.

According to plaintiffs' attorney Patricia A. Law, Ms. Meis's wounds were not healing properly after her plastic surgery, and she showed symptoms consistent with septic shock on June 20, 2007, when she was taken by ambulance to an emergency room. This was less than a day after her last visit to Dr. Hardesty. Court documents indicate that Dr. Hardesty prescribed antibiotics at that visit, but there was no testimony suggesting that they would have been prescribed against a life-threatening infection. Ms. Meis died on June 23.

The plaintiffs allege that Dr. Hardesty failed to recognize the severity of Ms. Meis's infection, despite evidence that Ms. Meis's wounds were not healing properly, and that she had a history of physical complications resulting from a previous bariatric surgery.

"One of the claims in the case was that [Plastic Surgery Specialists and Services] failed to provide proper post-operative care, based on the patient's bariatric surgery history. The jury didn't agree with me," says Ms. Law.

Dr. Hardesty maintained at court that Ms. Meis's wounds showed no sign of infection at the time of her last visit, and that she refused to be admitted to a hospital for pain management when he suggested that she do so.

"[The jury] just thought the doctor was doing the best he could," says Ms. Law. "They decided there were no clear and obvious signs she was septic, although she saw [Dr. Hardesty] not 16 hours before she was rushed by ambulance to the hospital, and slipped into a coma less than 24 hours after the last time she had been to his office."

Attorneys for Dr. Hardesty and Plastic Surgery Specialists and Services did not respond to requests for comment.

Mark McGraw