A Texas woman traveled to Mexico for surgery on her nose but never got the work done.

Her family says she came back home in a coma, and now, they’re deciding whether or not to take her off life support.

“Knowing my wife, she loved to dance, she loved to sing,” husband Enrique Cruz said. “She was a great cook. She was very active.”

A person full of laughter and love is how Laura Avila’s family describes her.

Cruz says she had been in communication with Dr. Judith Hernandez at Rhino Center in Cuidad Juarez.

She wanted a nose job.

“She’s perfect–and if something–getting a nose job would help–would make her feel better of herself, you know, it’s cruel to say that she deserved this,” Avila said.

Laura told the doctor that she was a nervous person and she was afraid her blood pressure would go up during the procedure. But the doctor told her not to worry.

On Oct. 30, she went in for surgery.

“They told me that they had some issues with her blood pressure and that they weren’t able to do the procedure, but that they were waiting for her to come out of the anesthesia.”

Cruz says about 8 hours passed when he was told that she would have to be transported to a Juarez hospital.

He says Laura had gone into cardiac arrest.

“What they told me was that the anesthesia went to her brain instead of her body,” Cruz said.

Receipts provided by Laura’s family showed that she paid about 2,800 pesos for the nose procedure.

“If you’re considering getting a procedure done in another country because it’s cheaper, please keep in mind that you’re getting what you pay for,” sister Angie Avila said.

A medical professional from Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center says it takes about 16 years to become a plastic surgeon in America.

He says the requirements in Mexico take less time than that.

“They do fewer years in terms of subspecialty training,” Dr. Jose Manuel de la Rosa said. “The requirements for general surgery are less. It’s comparable, but it’s not the same.”

Dr. de la Rosa recommends patients always look for board certifications.

He says there are some plastic surgeons in Mexico who are registered with the American Board of Plastic Surgeons.

The family says they’re trying to get her transferred from El Paso to a hospital in Dallas.

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