Jury awards $20.5M in liposuction death

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A Philadelphia jury awarded $20.5 million Friday to the parents of an 18-year-old woman who died after liposuction surgery.

Daniel and Colleen Fledderman sobbed as the jury returned its verdict against plastic surgeon Richard Glunk and nurse anesthetist Edward DeStefano, The Legal Intelligencer reported.

The verdict came seven years to the day after Amy Fledderman of Newton Square had the elective, fat-removing surgery in Glunk’s office in King of Prussia. She died two days later.

Montgomery County prosecutors declined to file criminal charges after an investigation into the May 2001 death.

The liposuction was done on the teen’s chin, abdomen and flanks.

The family’s civil suit charged that a blood vessel in Amy Fledderman’s neck was severed during surgery, and that Glunk realized too late she was in trouble.

Glunk’s office was not licensed by the state Department of Health, and his liposuction privileges at Main Line Health Hospitals had been restricted, the plaintiffs said.