Illegal Silicone Injections

[Britney_413]

I happen to know someone who travels all around the country pumping up various parts of people's bodies (mostly breasts) with direct silicone injections. Isn't this illegal? So I have an ethical dilemma here. I have generally considered this individual a friend although now she is more of an acquaintance as I don't really talk to her much anymore. She is rather open about what she does and I've known several other people who have had this work done by her. She is trans and her client base is trans as well. On one hand, I'd prefer to mind my own business as anyone who is dumb enough to seek such procedures is doing so at their own risk. Plus, it is the free market. If they want to pay for it then all power to them. On the other hand, I want to protect the community. Trans people have enough problems as it is between getting basic transition care to financial troubles to hate crimes. I don't particularly like the fact that one trans person could be ruining hundreds or even thousands of people's lives. At the same time I'm not confident that law enforcement even would care to investigate. I doubt it would even fall under local or state jurisdiction and probably is something that would have to be referred to the FBI. I find it strange that an individual can parade around openly about this and nobody seems to question it. She and her clients believe that there is no harm to the procedure and that alleged harm is just exaggeration coming from doctors. Any suggestions on this?

[Flan]

simple version: it's both very illegal, and a good way to be killed via cardiac arrest.
http://www.springerlink.com/content/y564g14348832668/

[Sandy]

The term is called practicing medicine without a license and it is a federal offense, a felony.  Local authorities should be very interested in handling it.  People die doing this and your friend could be charged with manslaughter.

These "pumping parties" are dangerous and take advantage of gullible trans people who should be getting proper support.  Your acquaintance is putting peoples lives in danger.

Moreover your friend is not doing anyone in the community in general any service since this type of thing is what feeds the stereotypical image of that the general public thinks of us.

-Sand

[JessicaH]

Your "friend" is PREYING on Transwomen. Google "trans died silicone injections" and see what comes up. Here is just one article on a silicone injection death.


BY DAVID SMILEY
DSMILEY@MIAMIHERALD.COM
A transgender man convicted in 2003 of operating an illegal silicone injection operation that led to the death of a 53-year-old Miami secretary has been arrested in Flagler County.

Flagler County Sheriff's Office deputies and officials of the Florida Department of Health arrested Donnie Hendrix Tuesday morning at his Bunnell home, the site of an alleged illegal silicone injection operation, according to department spokeswoman Debra Johnson.

Hendrix, 40, is accused of giving injections to patients in his bedroom for between $400 and $600 per session.

He faces two counts of practicing medicine without a license and practicing as a healthcare professional without a license.

Detectives arrested Hendrix after executing a search warrant for his home, which according to Johnson had been under surveillance for four months after someone called the CrimeStoppers tip line to report suspicious activity at the home.

Police say Hendrix was performing healthcare without a license, an action that earned him a five-year sentence in 2003 after a Broward jury convicted him of the same offense.

Police said Hendrix, also known as ''Viva,'' was one half of a duo that would travel from South Carolina to South Florida in order to inject mostly transgender patients with silicone shots.

Neither was a licensed practitioner.

The duo was arrested in 2001 when Vera Lawrence died after receiving the injections.

Hendrix was convicted of practicing healthcare without a license in July 2003 and sentenced to five years. He was credited with more than two years time already served in jail and was released from Tomoka Correctional Institution near Daytona Beach in November 2005.

[Renate]

I agree that silicone injections are both illegal and a bad idea.

I did notice one aspect of the article that I found disconcerting in a completely separate way:

The duo was arrested in 2001 when Vera Lawrence died after receiving the injections.

Hendrix was convicted of practicing healthcare without a license in July 2003 and sentenced to five years. He was credited with more than two years time already served in jail and was released from Tomoka Correctional Institution near Daytona Beach in November 2005.

Apparently, this means that Hendrix spent two years in jail before he was actually convicted?
Is that speedy justice?

[Cindy Stephens]

I think cases usually flow faster here in Florida unless their lawyer starts using delaying tactics.  Sometimes if you delay long enough it goes away.

[JessicaH]

Sometimes, it's in the defendants best interest to waive the right to a speedy trial. The pair were either a huge flight risk or they couldn't post a bond, otherwise they would have been free pending a trial. People that prey on the desparate are the lowest of the low. Five years was was to lenient.

I wonder what they would have been charged with had they been doing this to suburban soccer moms vs. transwomen? I bet they would never had gotten out of jail. I bet the D.A. could have come up with a list of charges a mile long if he wanted to.

[Britney_413]

Ironically this TS woman injected herself as well. Also interesting is that she never seems to push it on people and never tried to get me to do it other than that the option is available. What I don't understand is how someone can be blatantly open about criminal activity and nothing is done about it. I'm sure if I walked around everywhere telling every stranger I met that I was stockpiling explosives it wouldn't take long until ATF showed up. The same with drugs. I am going to ask a Phoenix police officer about whether his department investigates this kind of thing but I won't go into specifics. I probably won't see this officer until the weekend. I hate to turn in someone I know who I'm on good terms with but at the same time I have a real problem with someone jeapordizing the health and safety of hundreds or more of people. I wouldn't snitch on drug dealers as I personally think most illegal drugs can be done moderately. I consider something like these silicone injections to be significantly more dangerous than illegal drugs. Plus, we aren't talking about people buying a temporarily recreational high most of who know the dangers of certain street drugs. We are talking about people having surgeries performed on them by someone without a license to practice medicine and using a substance that has been banned long ago. Unfortunately, I'm not that confident in law enforcement. They never seem to do anything about anything but I'll ask this one city cop off the record. I doubt that it is even something the police would investigate and they would probably refer it to the FBI since I believe it is a federal law. Not sure if I want to step into something like that. Thanks for everyone's concerns.

[JessicaH]

Most of these "injection" operations do not use medical grade silicone since the Home Depot version is only $5 a tube and it is hardly sterile as well as toxic until it cures which could take a while being injected into the body.

I would start by contacting http://www.azmd.gov/ and ask them who to report this to. They may very well initiate the investigation themselves and if this person is as blatant about breaking the law as you say, then they wouldnt need you to testify about anything at all.

[Cindy Stephens]

"All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men(women) to do nothing" Edmund Burke
It takes a complaint for this type of crime to surface.  She may be doing it with the minimum of skill to keep people from dying.  The harm can show up later after enough time lapse that the victims don't feel right pressing charges.  I think a lot of these parties are put together at hair salons where everyone knows each other and their is a certain hesitancy to accuse a friend.  It may also be that if someone is injured, everyone else claims to have no knowledge and maybe her "real" name isn't even known.  This is done on the QT and people don't want to get into trouble themselves.  There could be any number of reasons. 

[tekla]

I'd try the board of health/medical examiners office.  Local cops wouldn't care, and if it's not high-profile, terrorist related the FBI does not care either.  But the board of health does.  While I'd hate to see the person go to jail per se, it would be real nice if they could make her stop.

[Keroppi]

No no, those injections are just a bad idea!

[Britney_413]

Thanks for everyone's help on this. I'll look into those suggestions.