CHULA VISTA, Calif.—A South Bay plastic surgeon already facing criminal charges stemming from the death of a patient pleaded not guilty April 10 to a newly filed murder charge.
Dr. Carlos Chacon, 48, was charged along with one of his nurses in late 2021 with involuntary manslaughter and other charges in the death of Megan Espinoza, a 36-year-old mother of two who died more than a month after undergoing a breast augmentation operation on Dec. 19, 2018.
Prosecutors said Espinoza was provided anesthesia by a nurse who was not trained to do so. The patient went into cardiac arrest during the operation at Divino Plastic Surgery in Bonita and Chacon allegedly delayed contacting emergency services for about three hours.
Chacon was previously released on his own recognizance under a number of conditions, but was arrested and jailed last week.
Peer’s Words
The prosecutor said Chacon also lied to several anesthesiologists he telephoned on Dec. 19, 2018, when he told them Espinoza never lost her pulse or blood pressure.Darvas said one of those anesthesiologists later told investigators that had he known the truth regarding Espinoza’s condition, he would have called 911 himself. The prosecutor said that an anesthesiologist also volunteered to come to the clinic to help, but Chacon declined. Another doctor told Chacon to immediately call 911, but he did not, the prosecutor alleged.
“We believe this evidence shows the defendant’s calls to these doctors were not to obtain assistance in how to handle the medical emergency taking place with Megan Espinoza’s life, but to create plausible deniability and spread the blame for how he mishandled the emergency,” Darvas told a judge.
The prosecutor said Chacon saw four other patients “while Ms. Espinoza lie suffocating on that table.”
Defendant’s Argument
One of Chacon’s defense attorneys, Marc Carlos, said prosecutors have “ramped this up to a murder charge” despite no changes in the case since it was originally filed, no violations of his bail conditions, and no new allegations regarding any other patients.“I’ve never seen anything like this and I really think that doctors out there should be concerned because if something bad happens, this is what’s happening to them next,” Carlos said.
Another defense attorney for Chacon, David Rosenberg, said his client “took several steps” to try to assist Espinoza when things took a turn for the worse. He also said Chacon didn’t believe calling 911 immediately would be necessary because Espinoza’s oxygen levels and pulse were within the normal limits.
“To say that he ignored this patient and had no concern for her defies the medical records,” he said.
Rosenberg alleged that other than this, Chacon’s record of performing surgeries has been without a blemish and that he had never faced a lawsuit regarding any of his patients until a wrongful death and medical malpractice lawsuit was filed in 2019 by Espinoza’s husband. That case was settled out of court last year.
Prosecutors asked for a bail amount of $5 million, but Superior Court Judge Maryann D'Addezio set bail at $500,000, which his defense attorneys said he will post soon.
The judge set a number of conditions for his release, including that he may only perform surgery if a licensed anesthesiologist or certified registered nurse anesthetist is administering anesthesia during surgery and he may only perform surgery at accredited surgery centers.
He also must inform surgical patients of the pending charges he is facing and must provide proof of that notification to the court.
While Chacon is still licensed to practice medicine, the prosecutor said the Medical Board of California has filed a motion to have his license suspended.
