A Patient Died After Surgery in a Queens House: How to Actually Vet a Surgeon

Let's talk about some genuinely alarming plastic surgery news out of Queens, New York.

Felipe Hoyos-Foronda, 38, called 911 after a patient became unresponsive in his care. And when I say "in his care," I mean he was performing surgery on someone inside his house in Queens, by himself.

After calling 911, he fled the scene. Emergency responders found the patient in cardiac arrest and brought her to the hospital, but she could not be saved.

Investigators identified him through his landlord, used license plate readers to locate his car, and apprehended him at JFK Airport as he was on his way out of the country to Colombia. He reportedly claimed to be a licensed doctor in Colombia. He has no licensure in the United States.

Rest in peace to the patient. This was entirely preventable, so let's talk about how you protect yourself.

This is always number one, and in this case it alone would have been decisive. You want to confirm that the person you're seeing:

• Is licensed in your state
• Completed the proper training in plastic surgery
• Holds board certification by the American Board of Plastic Surgery

Had this patient run those checks, she would have discovered that this person was not licensed in the United States and held no board certification. The information was there to be found. (Here's exactly how to verify board certification.)

Credentials aren't the whole picture. Where the surgery happens matters just as much, and this is the step people skip.

Your surgeon should be on staff at a hospital, even if your surgery is happening at an outpatient facility. Here's why that matters:

Without privileges, you get handed off to strangers at the worst possible moment. (More on why hospital privileges matter.)

If you're having surgery at an outpatient surgery center, confirm it holds a proper, up-to-date accreditation. That accreditation is what guarantees the equipment, staffing, and emergency protocols are actually in place. (Surgery center vs. hospital, compared.)

It is possible to safely do minor procedures in an in-office operating suite. That's legitimate. But those spaces are not appropriate for major procedures.

So ask your surgeon directly: where is my surgery being done?

In this case, the surgery happened in some random guy's house, a house he didn't even own. That is never acceptable, under any circumstances, for any procedure.

I understand that cost drives these decisions. A lot of people are desperate to have these procedures and are looking for a way to afford them. I have real sympathy for that.

But here's what I need you to internalize:

Someone operating out of a rented house with no license was almost certainly very inexpensive. And this is exactly what makes it not worth it. The savings are meaningless against the risk you're accepting, which in this case was a woman's life. It's the same brutal math behind bargain procedures and unlicensed aftercare.

Before any procedure, confirm all of these:

1. Licensed in your state, verify it yourself
2. Board certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery
3. Hospital privileges, so they can follow you if you're transferred
4. Accredited facility, current and appropriate for your procedure
5. Location is appropriate for the scale of what you're having done
6. If anything feels off, walk away

Every one of those is checkable before you hand someone your body. It takes an afternoon.

A woman died after being operated on by an unlicensed man, in a house he didn't own, who then fled toward the airport. Every safeguard that exists in real medicine, licensure, board certification, hospital privileges, facility accreditation, was absent.

Vet credentials. Ask where you'll be operated on. Confirm hospital privileges and accreditation. These checks are free, fast, and they are precisely what stands between you and a story like this one.

Certification and education matter. They are not bureaucratic box-checking, they are the safety system.