'He killed my only sister' Aussie's quest to confront deadly surgeon

A Queensland woman has uncovered the tragic truth behind the death of her sister and at least two other women at the hands of a Mexican cosmetic surgeon still operating on foreigners.

Evita Sarmonikas’ family was told she suffered a heart attack during surgery but after launching an independent inquiry her sister Andrea discovered a sickening cover-up.

Her sister did not have a heart attack, her right lung was punctured five times.

Incredibly, it isn’t all she uncovered about the surgeon Dr Victor Ramirez.

Accompanied by Sunday Night, she travelled to the cosmetic surgery capital of Mexico to confront him.

"She was the closest person I had to me," Andrea said.

"Once she was born I felt like I wasn't alone anymore. We were everywhere together all of the time. Everything I did, she did."

The inseparable sisters became best friends with Sophia Anderssen while at university, who went with Andrea to meet the surgeon.

"[When I met Evita] I was just absolutely amazed by not just her physical beauty but what a beautiful person she was. She was just so genuine and, and real and kind and fun, Sophia said.

Evita spent three years studying to get a theology degree, then another three for a degree in international business — paying for it all herself by managing a café.

"We joked a lot about body, Brazilian butts … but it wasn't serious. It really wasn't serious," Andrea said.

"Eva never presented having low self-esteem. She was quite confident, but I think perfectionism may have been part of it."

Evita told her family and friends she was heading to the US for a three-week holiday.

The truth was Evita’s holiday was a cover story, she was also going for a cosmetic procedure in Mexico.

"I think she sort of thought 'it's my money, I can do what I want with my body, with my life, and I'm really proud of her for that."

In the middle of the sweltering desert lies the city of Mexicali — a cosmetic surgery capital currently in the world's top ten.

Mexico supports a $4 billion industry fuelled by foreigners lured by the promise of an experienced surgeon at less than half the price.

Evita went for an operation called a 'Brazilian butt lift'. It involves taking fat from the mid-section using liposuction and injecting it to the buttocks.

Dr Ramirez is a well-regarded expert, even promoted in a Mexican Government brochure on medical tourism.

He was the last person to see Evita alive.

Andrea received a phone call out of the blue from a friend of her sister's, "She just said 'Evita's dead, Andrea'.

"I didn't want to believe she was really, really, gone...[I was] just hoping that if I go I'll find her and I'll bring her back home," Andrea said.

"I have never had a worse day in my life and I still can't believe it, I still feel like she's around."

Andrea had to break the news to their mother, who believed Evita was holidaying in Los Angeles.

"She just started screaming, 'No, no, no, no, no' she just kept repeating that over and over, I think for about half an hour."

"She folded to the floor [and said] 'No, my baby, no'."

The Mexican Police Forensic Department carried out Evita's autopsy and told the family the cause of death was a heart attack during the operation.

She was fit, young and healthy and her family was instantly suspicious.

This, combined with their insistence she be cremated, led Andrea to board the next flight to Mexico and insist on a second, independent autopsy.

The results couldn't have been more different.

"I knew, I knew that something was wrong and then when the forensic came back and she goes 'Andrea, they perforated her lungs five times'."

"She didn't die from a pulmonary embolism he punctured her lungs… the holes, the holes couldn't, couldn't hold her air, the blood began to fall in, she suffocated."

Liposuction is performed with a long metal tube — removing body fat like a vacuum — and somehow during this procedure Victor Ramirez punctured Evita’s lungs on multiple occasions.

It was a severe and fatal trauma that was not reported in the first autopsy.

But when Andrea began looking into his past she discovered Evita was not the first victim of this gross incompetence.

"Seven women have reached directly out to me, and he has mutilated them and they are now psychologically damaged."

"Three deaths that we know of through direct evidence, obviously Evita is one of those, I've spoken to the other two families."

There are also records of another two unidentified patients of Ramirez who have died.

"We need those families to come forward," Andrea said.

In all three of the fatalities Andrea uncovered, the women underwent liposuction at the hands of Victor Ramirez and the cause of death was trauma to the lungs.

Andrea has assembled a legal team in Mexico and charges have been laid against him for the death of Evita. He pled not guilty and the case is ongoing.

Incredibly, he continues to operate despite the charges against him.

Sunday Night's interviewed Dr Rivera Valenzuela, the Secretary of the Office of Professions, but he was unaware of the case.

He said he would recommend that Dr Ramirez's license be suspended.

The case will go to court in December.