Surgeon Who Killed Woman With Butt Implant Surgery Only Gets 9 Months

A plastic surgeon whose botched butt implants killed a woman was sentenced to three to nine months in prison. Elsa Then, 58, broke into sobs when Judge Martin Marcus gave her jail time instead of the probation for which her lawyer begged. Hit the jump to read the rest of the story.
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He also admonished her for preying on Hispanic women who frequented her flourishing, but illegal, cosmetology practice.

“Some might describe what happened as tragic accident, but it was not that,” Marcus said. “You lulled [the victim\] into trusting you and presented yourself as a professional.”

Then, who ran the cut-rate clinic out of her Bronx apartment, injected excessive amounts of silicone into the rear end and thighs of Fiordaliza Pichardo, 43, on March 16, 2009.

In a twisted act, she used Bounty paper towels, Band-Aids and industrial-strength glue to finish the slipshod treatment.

When Pichardo fell ill hours later from infection, Then tried to cover her tracks by going to the hospital and removing her patient’s bandages, prosecutors said.

The mother of two died the next day from a silicone-induced lung blockage — but Then wasn’t done trying to conceal her crime.

She had the nerve to attend Pichardo’s wake and tell grieving relatives she died from smoking too much, prosecutors said.

Assistant District Attorney Daniel Klein called Then a “cold and calculating” manipulator who “wormed her way into the lives of [her clients\].”

“She was the best mother ever and we lost that due to this procedure,” Pichardo’s son, Kelvin Rodriguez, 24, said in court before the sentencing.

“I am dead alive with her two children, who are without a mother and who miss her dearly,” added Pichardo’s mother, Margarita, 63.

Then had faced up to four years after being convicted last month of criminally negligent homicide.

Pichardo’s family said she should have received the maximum.

“We feel really mad,” Margarita Pichardo said. “Some people go on vacation for nine months. But my daughter is never going to return.”

DN