After undergoing plastic surgery, many patients turn to recovery centers for specialized post-operative care. But as Labrisha Green discovered firsthand, some of these recovery centers operate out of hotels, charging steep fees while providing questionable medical supervision.
Green traveled to Miami for a Brazilian butt lift and tummy tuck last summer, expecting a smooth recovery.
Instead, she was required by her surgical coordinator to book post-surgical care through a specific company at a local hotel—at a cost of $200 per day.
“They want you to go to that hotel,” Green said. “So yeah, a lot of money.”
Despite being promised 24-hour care, she described feeling abandoned when she needed medical assistance.
“I was asking if she could take my blood pressure or if she had, like, a thermometer or something, and they just said no,” Green recalled. “Every time I would ask them, they’re like, no. We don’t have it.”
Investigators from 7 News Miami monitored a hotel in Miami for two months, capturing footage of patients being dropped off in surgical gowns, bathrobes, and with medical drainage bags.
Recovery centers operating out of hotels have also been found in Broward County, where a New Jersey woman sued her plastic surgeon after developing life-threatening sepsis at a Fort Lauderdale hotel.
Her attorney, Chris Rosamano, explained the hidden risks of these postoperative hotel stays.
“It’s just a constant turnover of different women coming in with open wounds, JP drains,” he said. “It’s a dangerous situation in my eyes.”
While it is legal for hotels to rent rooms to post-surgical patients, businesses operating as unregulated recovery centers within hotels could pose serious health risks.
Green’s experience raises concerns about the lack of oversight and patient protection in the booming medical tourism industry in South Florida.
