A Chula Vista plastic surgeon, Dr. Carlos Chacon, appeared in court Thursday facing second-degree murder charges after the death of one of his patients. Meghan Espinosa, a mother and teacher from El Cajon went into cardiac arrest and died during a breast augmentation surgery back in Chacon and his medical staff were incompetent. The preliminary hearing, which ultimately decides if the case continues to trial, lasted the entire day at the South Bay courthouse. As planned per scheduling conflicts later, expert witness and plastic surgeon Dr.
John Shamoun was the only one to testify Thursday. Both the medical board and the District Attorney tasked Shamoun with reviewing all evidence including charts, reports, depositions and video of the surgery at the Divino Surgery Center in Bonita. Shamoun believes the registered nurse was inappropriately and incompetently administering anesthesia, and was originally hired in order to forego an anesthesiologist to save money.
Others saying there was no shock. CPR for 10 seconds, no pulse for 10 seconds, the use of epinephrine on multiple occasions when there was a pulse. I mean, this was a circus. Shamoun testified in several instances that Chacon was the captain of the ship and even if the registered nurse mistakenly over-sedated the patient, Espinosa was his responsibility.
He also said he never used a registered nurse in those procedures, but had in less serious surgeries.
He described it as risky because of its proximity above the heart and lungs. He also sai Espinoza signed consent forms and was aware of the risks of the surgery. He also reported that Chacon had placed two calls to an anesthesiologist during the three hours he and his staff failed to call for emergency services, which they were expected to do once CPR was attempted briefly. Several times, the defense team objected and called the details hearsay as what Shamoun interpreted from the reports and evidence he reviewed.
