Miami plastic surgeon’s bad injection caused butt lift death, state says
The death of a Brazilian butt lift patient in Miami has been blamed on the board-certified plastic surgeon in a complaint by the Florida Department of Health.
Dr. Baotram Tran’s address on her Florida medical license, 10167 W. Sunrise Blvd., is Tran Plastic Surgery in Plantation. of a West Sunrise Boulevard office in Plantation and Google brings up a Miami office on 2601 SW 37th Ave., across the street from Coral Gables Hospital. But, the administrative complaint says the surgery happened at Professional Plastic Surgery, 2299 SW 37th Ave.
Administrative complaints start the discipline process, which can end with anything from the doctor being cleared to punishment from the state Board of Medicine. Tran’s been licensed in Florida since Aug. 4, 2016 without previous disciplinary action taken against her. If the state review finds her at fault, she’ll likely be fined and required to take some continuing medical education classes.
According to the American Board of Plastic Surgery, Tran has been board certified since Nov. 11, 2018.
Tran didn’t answer a message left for her at her Plantation office.
READ MORE: Miami plastic surgery center suspended for inadequate drugs, BBL patient exams
A bad BBL fat injection?
The complaint says a 41-year-old woman went to Professional Plastic Surgery on Mar. 18, 2022 for a gluteal fat grafting, the medical term for a Brazilian butt lift (BBL); breast augmentation; and liposuction of her back, sides and abdomen.
She would be dead by 6 p.m. that evening.
“During the gluteal fat grafting (BBL), [Tran] injected fat into (the patient’s) gluteal musculature,” the complaint said. “After surgery, while in the recovery room, (the patient) complained of being short of breath and then became unresponsive.”
The woman was taken to Mercy Hospital. She died at 5:34 p.m.
During a BBL, which is a form of liposuction, fat is sucked from the abdomen area and injected into the butt area. Florida administrative code prohibits injection into glute muscles because it increases the chances of a fatal pulmonary embolism.
The Miami-Dade Medical Examiner’s autopsy, the complaint said, described a main pulmonary artery as “blocked by a 5 cm fragment of material which resembled fat.
[Tran] knew, or should have known, that injecting fat into...gluteal musculature was strictly prohibited.”
This story was originally published June 22, 2025 at 9:37 AM.
