Last night Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill that was written after Kanye West’s mother Donda died during cosmetic surgery. During her autopsy, it was discovered that she suffered from high blood pressure and had a blockage in a cardiac artery. Schwarzenegger said he didn’t sign the bill because California’s massive, nearly three month long budget approval delay caused such a time crunch that he could only deal with the most essential bills.

A measure intended to prevent cosmetic surgery-related deaths fell victim to a rash of vetoes Sunday by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The bill was written after the death last November of Donda West, mother of rapper Kanye West. The 58-year-old woman died one day after breast reduction and liposuction surgery, and an autopsy found health problems, including high blood pressure and cardiac artery blockage.

The cosmetic surgery bill, AB 2968 by Assemblywoman Wilmer Amina Carter (D-Rialto), would have required people to undergo a physical examination, give a complete medical history and get a doctor’s clearance before undergoing plastic surgery. It received almost-unanimous support in the Legislature.

In vetoing the measure, Schwarzenegger said this summer’s historic, 85-day delay in passage of a state budget left him with time to enact only the highest-priority legislation for California. “This bill does not meet that standard, and I cannot sign it at this time,” states the veto message, which he applied to dozens of others Sunday. Schwarzenegger has until midnight Tuesday to sign or veto all of the nearly 900 bills sent to him by the Legislature last month. If he does not act, those bills become law.

[From the Los Angeles Times]

In related news, Kanye is hosting and performing at a benefit concert for the Dr. Donda West foundation in Washington D.C. on November 4th. The focus of the benefit is to encourage young adults to get out and vote.

It’s not often that something good can come out of a death, particularly a death of someone young and healthy who was taken unexpectedly. So I’m really happy to hear that Donda West’s death has led to a change in law for plastic surgery, making it safer for patients.

In California, the death of Donda West, 58, in November prompted two lawmakers to push for additional patient safety protections.

A bill, AB 2968, by Assemblywoman Wilmer Amina Carter (D-Rialto) calls for a patient to receive a physical examination before undergoing cosmetic surgery.

Yolanda Anderson, West’s niece, said her aunt did not receive a physical exam by her surgeon, Dr. Jan Adams, before undergoing surgery.

A spokesman for Adams has previously said it was his understanding that both Adams and the anesthesiologist thoroughly questioned West before her surgery.

“It’s not like she was 90 or terminally ill with cancer,” Anderson said. “It was something that did not have to happen.”

Another doctor whom West had previously seen declined to operate on her, saying that she was at risk of having a heart attack if she were to undergo the cosmetic surgery.

A coroner’s report cited West’s heart disease and clogged coronary arteries as a factor in her death. According to the coroner, there was no evidence that her death was caused by a mistake in surgery.

Los Angeles Times

It seems that at this stage anyone with a medical degree can perform surgery on a patient that requests it, and because they are often performed as outpatient proceedures they do not undergo the same regulations a hospital inpatient would. How Donda West could have been sent home 5 1/2 hours after a breast reduction and tummy tuck is beyond me - a relative of mine who underwent the same proceedure in Australia was in hospital for four days recovering.

Dr Jan Adams, the doctor who performed the surgery on Donda West, was also fighting two malpractice suits at the time of her operation. One was for leaving a sponge in a patient, the other for only placing one implant in a woman wanting a pair of breast implants. The new law does not stop him from performing surgery, or having to disclose the suits to patients, while the case is still waiting for or undergoing trial.

The new law also means that doctors will be under closer supervision, such as what a heart surgeon in a regular hospital might be under. Patients will have to have a full physical exam. While Donda was an intelligent adult who should perhaps should have chosen not to have the surgery, if she sought a second opinion it is possible that she was told the surgery would be safe. Donda was not undergoing the surgery solely for cosmetic reasons, but because of back pain.

I can only hope that the West family, and other families who have suffered loss related to plastic surgery, can get some closure from Donda’s unfortunate death with this little bit of good that comes with the legislation.

Picture note by Celebitchy: Donda West and her son, Kanye, are shown at a book signing for
“Raising Kanye: Life Lessons From The Mother Of A Hip-Hop Superstar” at Waterstones bookstore in London on 6/30/07, thanks to WENN.

Poor Dr. Jan Adams. The television/publicity loving plastic surgeon complains that his business has gone down the drain since he operated on Kanye West’s mother Donda, who died at her home the next day. While her autopsy results were inconclusive, most people seem to agree that Adams bears some culpability. West consulted another plastic surgeon for her breast reduction (which was a medical necessity due to back pain) and tummy tuck. Both of the other surgeons refused to do the surgery, stating that West had to see an internist before he would consider doing the surgery since she had a condition that could cause a heart attack. However Adams was more than fine with operating on West. While Donda was obviously aware of the first surgeon’s concerns and still went ahead with surgery, Dr. Adams had a duty not to operate on her if he was aware of her condition – which a good doctor would be.

As a result of Donda West’s death, a lot of publicity was focused on Jan Adams, and it quickly came to light that he has a long history of legal problems, including charges of domestic violence, DUI arrests, tax evasion and malpractice suits. And the malpractice suits are legitimate –he once left a sponge inside a patient, and only put one breast implant in other. Last night Adams went on Larry King to complain about the way his practice has suffered as a result of all the negative publicity.

KING: Do you continue to practice?

ADAMS: Yes.

KING: How bad has your practice been affected by this publicity?

ADAMS: Horribly. It’s almost destroyed.

KING: Is that surprising to you?

ADAMS: It surprises me because I have to ask myself, when people attack you like that — I’m talking the press — you have to say, why do they fear you? Generally, people attack someone who they fear. And I’m not sure where all that came from. I do know we got bad information. The real question out there really isn’t, from where I look at, this particular patient. The real question out there is, who is this person and why is this kind of attack going on?

[From Larry King Live]

Hey Dr. Adams, I don’t think people fear you, I think they loathe you. It’s just easier to think they fear you, because that implies that you have some sort of power over everyone. People generally don’t like the idea of a DUI-getting, girlfriend-hitting, sponge-leaving doctor. So when you’re in some way connected to the death of a famous hip hop star’s mother, and then people find out you’ve got a long history of doing jackass things, they’re going to dislike you. Though the autopsy findings made it pretty hard to say Adams was directly responsible for West’s death, one would think he’d realize it’s a bad idea to go on national television and complain about how hard this has been for him. I’m guessing it’s harder for the West family. There’s a good chance Dr. Adams will lose his board certification due to his myriad legal and medical run-ins. It’s not the justice a lot of people would like, but it will hopefully keep him from operating on anyone else.

Donda West, mother of Kanye and English Professor, has had her cause of death ruled inconclusive by the coroner, who finds he can’t blame her death comprehensively on cosmetic surgery as she had pre-existing conditions. These pre-existing conditions were probably the reason she was turned away by other doctors who refused to perform the surgery.

The coroner’s office said in a statement that Donda West died of “coronary artery disease and multiple post-operative factors” but that “there was no evidence of a surgical or anesthetic misadventure.”

The statement added: “Multiple post-operative factors could have played a role in the death. The exact contribution of each factor could not be determined.”

In November, West, 58, arrived at a Wilshire Boulevard surgery center for routine cosmetic surgery. The operation lasted 5 1/2 hours, after which she was sent home, according to the coroner’s office.

A day later, paramedics rushed an unconscious West from her home to a Marina del Rey hospital, where she died.

Los Angeles Times

The doctor who operated on Donda West, Dr Jan Adams, had a long history of issues, including domestic violence, DUI arrests, tax evasion and most relevant, malpractice suits. One suit is for leaving a sponge in a woman after surgery, and also causing mental distress by only putting in a single breast implant. They come in pairs!

All surgery comes with risks, and an informed patient like Donda West would understand those risks, but it doesn’t seem as if she knew that the doctor she trusted was facing these issues.

Unfortunately this verdict is inconclusive enough that it doesn’t give the family much closure.

Note by Celebitchy: TMZ is reporting that the report means that Donda had a heart attack after she had surgery, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. I’m not a medical expert, but I thought the report just said that she had coronary artery disease, but that they didn’t say she had heart failure, which is termed “Myocardial Infarction” and is not mentioned anywhere in the report. It looks like they got this story wrong. (I suspected that this information was wrong and found this comment on TMZ about it.)

It still seems like Jan Adams has culpability in Dr. West’s death and needs to be held accountable for even operating on her. While a civil suit might be in order, it’s hard to tell if the West family is going to pursue one. It will most likely bring up a lot of difficult memories, but it also might bring more of Dr. Adams’ very questionable medical practices to light. This entire story is just sad and our hearts go out to the West family.

TMZ has the 911 tape of Donda West’s last moments and it’s tragic. The people with her freak out while they’re talking to the 911 operator and waste valuable time while they should be performing CPR. The 911 operator is an arrogant ass and instead of helping and jumping right in with the CPR instructions he wastes even more time asking the same questions over and over again and acting superior. I didn’t want to listen to the tapes, so don’t do it if you’re the type that will think about it and get bothered like I did. You wonder if something could have been done to resuscitate her and if one or both of the parties on the phone were more cooperative if she could have been saved. One thing the tapes (they are in two parts) brought home to me is that you should learn CPR, and can at least look it up on You Tube now before making an appointment to take a class because you may need to use it at any time.

It really annoys me that these tapes were published. If it was my family member or friend who was dead or dying on the other side I would never want this to be heard. I tried to google to see if 911 recordings were public information, and was unable to determine this. Does it vary by state and what are the laws governing release of these recordings?

Update: Thanks to commentor Rio for noting that CPR is not as effective as we might think. Here’s a scientific article about how television makes it seem like CPR has a much higher success rate than it actually does. Also thanks to the medical professionals who commented that it’s likely that there is not much that could be done for Dr. West. Our hearts go out to Kanye and his family over the holidays.

911 records seem to be available public records that can be requested through the Freedom of Information Act. (Thanks Mike D)

Update 2: By saying CPR is not as effective as it’s shown in the media, I did not mean to suggest that you shouldn’t learn and practice this life saving technique. Here’s a very good comment from reader Julie.

The chances of seeing someone regain a pulse while doing CPR are very slim. (Let alone seeing someone breathing and regaining consciousness while doing CPR - which commonly happens in TV shows and movies!) A rescuer who performs CPR is, however, keeping lifesaving oxygen in the body’s systems, making the chances of their survival higher once they reach the hospital (where medicine, defibrillation, surgery, and highly trained staff are available.) Even then, you are right that CPR isn’t a gurantee - depending on the cause of cardiac arrest, other injuries, the victim’s overall state of health - it may not work. But CPR, begun as soon as possible and done properly, can increase a person’s chance of survival.

I am a first aid and lifeguard trainer, and I always teach people to have realistic expectations of what is possible when they do CPR on someone, but I ALWAYS explain this in the context that it’s better to get trained and tried than to have done nothing at all. It is shocking to me how few people get trained in CPR……tragic stories like Donda West’s, where no one on the scene knows what to do, are sadly common.

Dr. Jan West, Kanye West’s deceased mom Donda’s plastic surgeon, made history on the Larry King show last night by being the first guest to walk off in 22 years. Larry asked his executive producer Wendy Walker toward the end of the show if a guest had ever left like that, and she said “You have been on the air now, Larry, for 22 years. And I have never seen a guest walk off… The only time I ever remember anything like this happening was one time, Vice President Gore was late and we put your children on for the first segment before he could get there.”

This was surprising to me, but Larry King is such a softball interviewer you could see how people would never get pissed off at him enough to leave. Adams delayed his appearance, and came on after the first commercial break, saying that he wanted to appear on the show, but that he would respect the wishes of the West family that he not talk about the case:

ADAMS: I — what I really want to say is I want to thank you for this opportunity. Basically, I had come here to talk about things in the press that aren’t accurate about me. But I have a tremendous amount of love and respect for the West family. And they’ve asked me not to go on. And I’ve said from the very beginning, I don’t have a side in this. They are my side.

And so I’m going to respect their wishes. And I’m going to apologize to you because I think I’m taking up your air time. But I will not be on the show and I will not discuss any of that. I’m going to honor their wishes, OK?

KING: Meaning, you won’t answer any questions about anything?

ADAMS: None. None.

[From CNN Transcript]

Adams went on to say that he would talk about what happened when the West family was comfortable with it and he ripped the microphone off and walked dramatically off stage. He didn’t get emotional or anything, but he did look and sound scared. The thing is, he was expected to at least address some of the many claims leveled against him, including multiple malpractice suits, several DUIs, the 100k in back taxes he owes, and his ex wife’s allegations that he physically assaulted her. He didn’t talk about any of that though, and just got the hell out of there, claiming he was doing it for the West family.

It’s more likely that Adams kept his mouth shut, something he hasn’t been able to do up until this point, due to a faxed letter from the West’s attorney that was received by his lawyer just prior to his scheduled appearance.

Adams’ attorney, Alan Tenenbaum, was on the show and confirmed that he did receive a fax from the West’s attorney, which came in right “as he arrived at [Larry King’s] office.” He said that it involved an issue of patient privilege, which is a civil matter, not a criminal matter, and he confirmed they could be sued for violating patient confidentiality. Adams had speculated earlier to the press that Donda died from a possible painkiller overdose, a statement that clearly violates patient doctor confidentiality. The West family has not yet announced a civil suit or an intent to sue.

Larry King said that the letter also threatened to go to the California Medical Board and have Adams’ license to practice medicine taken away if he continued to speak out about Dr. West’s case.

Adams could have talked about the other claims against him without violating Dr. West’s confidentiality, but he got scared and got the hell out of there. He does have a chance to speak out about the many stories about him that have been publicized as a result of this tragic case. He gave an interview to People Magazine that will appear in their next issue.

People senior editor Galina Espinoza was on the panel of experts commenting on Adam’s bizarre behavior on the show, and said that in that interview he dismissed the cases against him as “nuisance suits.” He also said that he never became board certified, something that is recommended but not required for physicians, because he didn’t think he needed to:

ESPINOZA: The DUIs he did not talk about. He did talk about a lot of the malpractice suits, and he dismissed most of them as “nuisance suits,” with his quote. And he did actually go on to say that in at least three cases where he did agree to a default judgment against him that if he had to do it over again, he wouldn’t do it, that he was an idiot for doing so. That was his explanation…

ESPINOZA: He was not board certified and we did ask him why he wasn’t. And he said that he did in fact start the process to become board certified, but things happened in his life. He had a serious illness. He wasn’t able to complete the process.

And then he went on to say, and I’m going to read this quote to you, saying that he wasn’t bothered by the fact that he does not have this credential, saying, we have made the board a tie to a certain level of competence, which I don’t really think is true.

So clearly, he did not think it was important for him to be board certified. He thought he was perfectly qualified.

[From CNN Transcript]

This guy is going down hard and he knows it. He must have been waiting for the axe to fall for the past few years and it was incredibly irresponsible for him to continue practicing medicine and behaving like an expert on television. Watching that show, he acted and behaved like a scared guilty person, and I hope that his license is revoked and that he’s sued into the ground. It won’t bring Kanye’s mom back, but their family might have a little justice.

Dr. Donda West’s funeral was held in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma yesterday. Kanye spoke at the ceremony, saying he hoped his mom would not “rest in peace, but rest in paradise.”

Here’s the video of Jan Adams walking off Larry King, thanks to TMZ:

Jan Adams, the doctor who performed the tummy tuck and breast lift on Kanye West’s now-deceased mother Donda, had an arrest warrant issued for him today. It turns out Adams has quite the rap sheet, at least for a well-known surgeon. Adams failed to show up for a judgment debtor examination in Los Angeles. A former patient, Lori Ufondu, had sued Adams after he left a sponge inside her during a surgery in 1996. The sponge wasn’t discovered until 2003 when the patient went to another surgeon to have her Adams’ botched surgical work corrected. Adams eventually showed up to the hearing, claiming he was “stuck in traffic” and the judge canceled the arrest warrant. Ufondu was awarded $100,000 in her case against Adams, which he has yet to pay. He has quite the long – and torrid – history, both with patients and in his personal life.

TMZ.com has been reporting one case after another of malpractice lawsuits against Dr. Jan Adams, the Harvard-educated plastic surgeon who said he operated on the mother of Kanye West sometime before her death on Saturday… According to TMZ, Ufondu obtained a judgment in excess of $100,000. Her lawyer says the doctor has yet to pay, and that there are several outstanding judgments against Dr. Adams, who has ignored his obligation to pay.

In yet another lawsuit, filed in Orange County Superior Court less than two weeks ago on Halloween, Rhonda McClain accuses Dr. Adams of medical malpractice following a surgery that took place on March 10, 2007. McClain says Dr. Adams and Euclid Outpatient Surgery Center were responsible for “mental, physical and nervous pain and suffering” after a procedure that left her with one breast implant. She also claims she nearly bled to death following the surgery.

[From EURweb]

So the guy’s not the greatest surgeon. One would think a woman as smart as Donda West (she was a college professor) would have researched her surgeon thoroughly. I wonder what made her go with this guy? It’s been documented that at least one other surgeon refused to operate on her, saying she had pre-existing health issues that made it unsafe. Maybe she went with Adams simply because he was willing to do the surgery.

Adams also has issues with a past girlfriend who had to get a restraining order against him in 2002. Apparently the guy is negligent, a poor surgeon, and has a temper. What a winner.

Additionally, TMZ has obtained documents filed by Dr. Adams’ ex-girlfriend, Deborah Pratt, seeking a restraining order against him for his alleged “Jekyll and Hyde” behavior when he drinks alcohol. The papers, filed in L.A. County Superior Court in 2002, say in part: “Defendant has an unfortunate drinking problem and unless restrained immediately, will assert the worst side of his ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ personality when he is intoxicated. Defendant is very attached to my children and he has been abusive when intoxicated in their presence, so he must stay away from them, also.” Pratt said on one occasion Adams burst into her home, threatened and chased her in his car. Dr. Adams filed papers denying the allegations, but the judge granted the restraining order.

[From EURweb]

Adams was the host of the Discovery Health Channel series “Plastic Surgery: Before and After” which has since been taken off the air. He was also featured on Oprah a few times, which is ironic since she did a special on surgeons accidentally leaving things inside of patients. And a follow-up to the story. Now she can have a follow-up to the follow-up. “Access Hollywood” said that Adams was one of two surgeons Oprah personally recommended to Donda West, so that’s likely one of the reasons she went with him. I hope Oprah investigates her “experts” a little more thoroughly from now on. Donda West’s funeral is scheduled for Tuesday in Oklahoma.