Surgeon Jailed Over Death of Nigerias First Lady

Created on 24th September 2009

A Spanish plastic surgeon has been sent to jail for his part in the death of former first lady of Nigeria, Stella Obasanjo.

There was some mystery surrounding the death of Stella Obasanjo in 2005. She died suddenly after a visit to Marbella and, at the time, it was claimed that her death had come about as the result of a sudden chronic asthma attack. However, it has now become apparent that she actually died after travelling abroad for cosmetic surgery and undergoing liposuction that went terribly wrong.

Stella, the wife of former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo had visited the exclusive Mediterranean based Molding Clinic four years ago in order to undergo cosmetic surgery to reduce the size of her stomach.

However, the liposuction operation - performed by cosmetic surgeon Antonio Mena Molina - went very wrong. The court heard that a tube supposed to used for removing fat was mistakenly placed in the patient's abdominal cavity and subsequently punctured her colon and cut into her liver.

The next day Mrs Obasanjo started showing signs of serious illness following her liposuction operation. Nurses at Moldings - Marbella's biggest plastic surgery clinic - became concerned and tried to call Dr Molina. However, he failed to answer his mobile phone and then waited over four hours before driving Mrs Obasanjo to hospital in his own car rather than calling an ambulance. Stella was pronounced brain dead on arrival and died in the hospital's intensive care until shortly afterwards.

Antonio Mena Molina was convicted in a court in Malaga of causing homicide through negligence. He was sentenced to a year in prison, banned from practising medicine for three years and was ordered to pay $176,000 (£108,000) in compensation to Mrs Obasanjo's son.

The court said, in passing judgement, that standard blood tests or an ultrasound would have detected the internal injuries caused by the faulty liposuction procedure, which could then have been treated.

Olusegun Obasanjo had five wives, but Stella was the highest profile and was widely considered to be the most glamourous. Known to many by the nickname 'Greedy Stella', she - understandably - preferred the title 'Mother of the Nation.'