A woman who traveled from North Carolina to Texas for a 10-hour plastic surgery died after complications left her brain-dead, leaving her husband to make the devastating decision to end life support. Joy Barbera, 48, underwent six procedures in a single day at Memorial Plastic Surgery in Houston. Peter Ginnegar, her husband, says that the surgery was pushed by the doctor despite the risks.
Per People, Ginnegar was halfway through a motorcycle trip in the Rocky Mountains when he got the call saying that his wife, who had been in surgery the day before, had stopped breathing. Hospital staff revived her with CPR, but the situation was critical. By the time he reached Denver, another call came. Barbera was brain-dead, and doctors needed his permission to stop resuscitation efforts. He gave it.
Barbera had lost significant weight with the help of a GLP-1 medication and was eager to address excess skin to get the body she wanted. She wanted multiple procedures: a Brazilian butt lift, arm lift, and breast augmentation. The problem is that she wanted it all done at once. Every other doctor turned her down, deeming the combination for a single-day surgery as dangerous, except Dr. Kendall Roehl.
Honestly, that would have been a red flag for me
Barbera had found Roehl on social media, who agreed to perform all six procedures in one marathon session. According to a lawsuit filed by Ginnegar, complications arose within the first hour, with Barbera’s blood pressure dropping despite medications used to keep blood pressure elevated. Not long after that, her body temperature had plummeted well below the threshold for moderate hypothermia.
The lawsuit also claims that Barbera lost a significant amount of blood during the procedure but was never given a transfusion. Ginnegar’s legal team argues that the surgery center wasn’t equipped to handle such emergencies. When the surgery finally ended, Roehl had allegedly operated on 41% of Barbera’s body. She was transferred to recovery, where her condition deteriorated rapidly.
Ginnegar had FaceTimed his wife the morning of the surgery. “She had this nice big smile on her face, and she’s like, ‘Love you,’” he recalled. “She saw herself, I think, coming out of the surgery with the body she wanted.” A nurse was supposed to call with an update, but the call never came. He texted them and finally heard from Roehl hours later, who told him Barbera was in recovery and doing well.
Then, around 1 AM, he got a call from Barbera herself. Her voice was faint. “She’s like, ‘Hey, babe, I want you to know I’m in the hospital. There’s something wrong with my stomach.’” That was the last time he spoke to her.
The next day, doctors called to say Barbera was having trouble breathing. By the time Ginnegar reached Houston, he was told she had been revived multiple times and was now brain-dead. When he arrived, Roehl allegedly blamed the anesthesiologist, Dr. Yiu-Hei Ching, during their conversation.
In March 2026, Ginnegar filed a lawsuit against Roehl, Ching, the surgery center, and two nurses. His goal isn’t just justice for his wife. It’s to warn others about the dangers of lengthy, combined procedures in outpatient surgery centers. “Obviously nothing will bring her back,” he said. “But I think, ‘If it was me, what would Joy do?’ And the first thing is to bring attention to the dangers of these types of surgeries in a non-hospital setting.”
The risks of combining multiple plastic surgery procedures in a single session are well-documented. Dr. Sophie Bartsich, a New York plastic surgeon, explains that while some procedures naturally go together, others, particularly body procedures, come with heightened risks when performed simultaneously.
“For facial plastic surgery, it often makes sense to combine procedures like eyelids and brow lifts with a facelift,” Bartsich says. “The wounds are nearby, the recovery is localized, and it all goes together.” However, body procedures, like combining breast and abdominal procedures, can lead to longer surgery times, which increases the risk of complications like blood loss, hypothermia, and metabolic stress.
Ginnegar is upset about Roehl’s promises, so he is focused on justice and getting other patients to think twice before agreeing to lengthy, combined procedures, especially in outpatient settings that may not be equipped to handle emergencies. However, a lot of people on the internet aren’t very convinced.
After all, even if Roehl agreed to do the procedure, there were plenty of others who informed them that it wasn’t a good idea. I also have a lot of questions for the surgeon. After all, she clearly botched it, too. Sure, this may not be a case of mistaking the operation site or completing a different procedure, but the team should have moved Barbera to a better-equipped emergency center.
Published: May 8, 2026 05:56 am