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I was Sexually Assaulted at the Obesity Good Bye Clinic
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My name is Teresa de Velasco. I recently had WLS in Tijuana, Mexico, at the Obesity Good Bye clinic. I feel compelled to share my story, so that others do not endure the same horrific experience. I was completely confident to travel alone and had no fears of surgery in another country. I believed I had done extensive research, and made a good decision. However, I was sexually assaulted during my stay at the clinic. I wouldn't advise anyone to travel alone. I am not saying, don't travel to Mexico for surgery. Anyone can have a bad employee working for them. I am just asking you to please read the following, which is a copy of the correspondence I sent to the two patient coordinators I had been involved with.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: JC Urrea <jurrea@bariatricmexico.com>
Date: Fri, Sep 18, 2015 at 2:01 PM
Subject: RE: Problematic Facts
To: Teresa de Velasco
Hi Teresa, I apologize for not getting your Facebook message. I’m only working on my business email since I’ve been out of town till Monday.
I will immediately inform Obesity Good Bye and forward your message to them to go over it. I will be in touch soon.
Regards,
JC Urrea
From: Teresa de Velasco
Sent: Friday, September 18, 2015 7:44 AM
To: Laura Padilla; jurrea@bariatricmexico.com
Subject: Problematic Facts
Laura and/or JC,
JC, I sent you a message via facebook this past Saturday on 9/12/15. I chose fb because that had always been the quickest method to reach you. I never got a response, so I am now sending you both this message.
As you know, I arrived in Tijuana at the Obesity good bye clinic on August 24th in the morning. They did their pre-op test and prepared me for surgery. I believe his name was, Dr. Rios that asked me a few questions and had me sign 2 consents. Prior to surgery, encountered Dr. Rios briefly a couple times, an internal medicine doctor (I think that's what he told me. He spoke English), the nurse (who spoke NO English, and I NO Spanish), and another man who stated his job was “to assist the physicians”. This man did speak English, but I can not recall his name. However, throughout my time there, I feel I had more interaction with him, than anyone else. On August 25th, I was moved to "another room” which was a different building. August 26th, discharge day, I was allowed to shower. I did not see any body soap, I was able to wash my hair. As I was drying myself off, I noted some old blood (brownish color) as I dried my vaginal area. While I was there, I had what I thought was a dream of someone holding something over my mouth and nose- until I I just don’t remember anything else… just sleep. With my dream/memory and then the vaginal area blood I was startled and concerned that I may have been sexually assaulted while sedated and/or forced to inhale something to sedate me. I was in a Foreign Country and the only person around that spoke English…. Was the person I suspected that could have done this. I was scared, and was definitely NOT going to say I thought I had been raped!! I discharged Aug 26th around 10:30am and finally arriving home just past 11pm. I kept these thoughts and feelings to myself… August 30th I began to feel like I was developing a yeast infection and got an over-the-counter one day treatment. September 1st, I began to develop vaginal lesions, which I hadn’t experienced before. At this point, I did discuss my concerns/thoughts with my husband. I called to set up an appointment with my gynecologist, however he was out of town. I was scheduled to see Melanie Bussie, APRN on September 4th. She offered to contact the authorities and a SANE nurse. (Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner). I had showered more than twice, destroying any possible DNA and couldn’t, imagine what the police could do for something that happened in Mexico, so I declined that. I did have several STD test done. I can NOT express enough to you, how overwhelming everything became at that moment with all the horrible possibilities. I was started on Valacyclovir 1GM 2x's daily for 10 days plus Lidocaine Gel. (So I could apply this to the lesions because the burning when I urinated was horrible!) As suspected, my results showed that I did have Herpes. She had also done a blood test to confirm if the outbreak was possibly from an old exposure. The test confirmed that I had been recently exposed. Thank God, all my other results have come back negative. However, I must be retested at 6 months and then again at one year for some of the other test. So, I still get to worry if any future test may be positive~ like HIV! As far as the Herpes, I was given a choice to take the medication when I have future outbreaks only, or as a daily maintenance. I will be taking it daily so that I can reduce any future outbreaks, and also to protect my husband from becoming infected. I am to begin counseling next week and have been prescribed something for sleep, otherwise I lay in bed and replay my time in Mexico. This will be with me for the rest of my life! You NEVER get rid of this STD~ Herpes! And this is something I will never forget!
I was very confident to travel to Tijuana, Mexico, to have my WLS. I was not afraid of having the surgery in a different country, no fears of being butchered, murdered, and not afraid that I had traveled alone. The ONLY concern that entered my mind about being there, was having my money, wedding band, debit card or something else stolen! It never occurred to me that I could be sexually assaulted. I have no doubts, that I was sexually assaulted at Obesity Good Bye Clinic.
In my research, it appears that Dr. Verboonen and Dr. Ponce are co-owners of the Obesity Good Bye Clinic?! They need to be notified immediately of this. I would like a response, as to what has been done and how this is being resolved. Nothing less than "him" being fired is acceptable. (I can't remember his name! He took my photo JC, saying you asked him to for the records.) If anyone plans to contact be by phone, I want that done during weekday evening hours or the weekend~ Because he DOES speak Spanish!
Records brings me to another thing… I want copies of medical records mailed to me. If you need me to sign a release you may email it and I will return it. The records should be provided to me at NO COST! I paid for a 5 day package, and was barely there for 3. Those other two days should definitely cover ANY cost to send them.
My "package" was for Dr. Ponce as a solo surgeon. He was honoring a price of $5800 that I had seen advertised on BariatricPal, with stipulations of one M.D. So, my "package should have included (As booked on Bariatric Mexico) Free Weight loss consultation with your Surgeon~ No member of the surgical team introduced themselves or spoke to me! Mickey Mouse could have done surgery?! Hotel (1 pre-op night)~ Chose not to use Anesthesiologist fees~ done A Dedicated Case Management Team~ NO! All Pre and Post op lab tests~ Only post op test done was leak test Full transportation from the Airport to private hospital~ Done A Nutritionist~ NO!! If told I did, I I would like to see I would like to see their picture and proof of education! Medication~ Done, also paid $100 for my meds and a 1L Gatorade. Meds should have been about $84. Expensive Gatorade in Mexico, I guess. One-year Follow-up Program
As a Registered Nurse myself, I could overlook some things such as: Nurses not looking at IV site while I slept and my hand was at LEAST twice normal size, Nurse applying tape only- directly on incisions. You face the potential of ripping open the glued incisions if/when removed. Mexico must have different nursing training and standards! … I knew the facility was not going to be a beautiful, new, top-notch looking facility, etc. I was a little shocked after being transferred to my 2nd room. Walked to a different building (which was cooler) but didn't realize I would be left alone and locked in! That's a bit frightening…
I had no intentions of telling many people that I had Mini Gastric Bypass Surgery there at Obesity Good Bye clinic. However, I did nothing wrong… and "Someone" DID sexually assault me. Trust me, I don't want everyone to know that I now have an STD! But this is the result of someone assaulting me and giving me a life-long disease! I AM prepared to basically copy and paste this email and post to my Facebook (and various groups), asking EVERYONE to share~ to spread the word. I believe women planning to travel alone should be warned about their risk! I am at a loss of how else to handle this situation. I know many people travel to Mexico for WLS, and I feel it is up to me try to spread the word…. I am afraid if I don't take some type of action, he will suffer no consequences. But I DO get to suffer from this!
I will be looking for my medical records to be mailed to me.