Clinic of horrors: Four arrested in Malaga after more than a dozen complaints filed

The National Police force in Spain has arrested the head of a cosmetic clinic in Malaga city, as well as the administrator and two doctors, over alleged malpractice which could have resulted in serious complications for more than a dozen victims.

Workers at the private centre that offered plastic surgery treatments allegedly carried out major procedures in a reckless manner and without the qualifications to perform them, instead adding the names of doctors who were authorised to perform such practices, police said.

Police offers have located 13 affected patients to whom the arrested workers caused serious, and in some cases, irreversible outcomes.

In some of the cases the implants offered in the contract established between the clinic and the patient were not even used. Police are trying to locate two other people who have also been involved in the alleged malpractice.

Investigations began last month, following a complaint filed by a woman about the physical symptoms she suffered after undergoing a cosmetic treatment at the clinic.

The workers will face charges for crimes of belonging to a criminal group, injuries, fraud, crime against consumer rights and false documentation.

The case is still open and new arrests have not been ruled out.

Stephanie, who was the first to report the clinic and has become a spokesperson for those affected by the alleged malpractice, has been left traumatised but determined to be a voice for the victims.

She underwent a breast augmentation operation in October and since then has lived a “real nightmare”.

The problems started only a week after the operation.

She spent days trying to contact the centre and, when she did, the only thing they told her was that the wounds she had were "normal", although she already suspected that this was not the case, she said.

Alarm bells went off for Stephanie on the day after she underwent treatment, when her wounds had started to turn greenish in colour.

The clinic repeatedly told her everything was fine, but she didn't believe them and went to a hospital.

"There they already told me that my breast was super infected and they gave me antibiotics; they told me that it was very important for me to see the doctor who had operated on me," Stephanie said.

Then, to her surprise, she discovered that the doctor whose name appeared in the report as the one responsible for the surgery was not the same person who performed it.

"Without saying a word during the treatment, that man cut off a piece of my nipple with a pair of scissors and without anesthesia," Stephanie added.

From then on, she said her breast "opened up" several times and required a new emergency operation.

Another victim, arranged a surgical procedure with the same clinic in October to undergo a mastopexy with reparative prostheses, lipoabdominoplasty, flanks and abdominal marking. In November she had to undergo surgery again because of similar symptoms in her breasts.