Woman denies ‘boob job’ killing in fatal mix up

A woman has denied killing a patient during a breast augmentation gone wrong, a court has heard.

A Chinese woman who is accused of making herself out to be a doctor has denied killing a patient by botching a breast augmentation procedure inside a Sydney clinic, a court has heard.

Jie Shao, 40, is standing trial in the Downing Centre District Court where she is fighting allegations that she caused the death of a beauty clinic manager.

She pleaded not guilty on Thursday to manslaughter over the death of Jean Huang, 35, at the Medi Beauty Clinic in Chippendale in August, 2017.

Ms Shao on Thursday pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of using a poison to endanger life, but is fighting the more serious charge at trial.

Ms Huang died after undergoing the cosmetic procedure on 30 August, 2017 inside her own clinic.

The court heard that at the time, she believed Ms Shao was a doctor, having communicated with her via WeChat.

“She ended up dead,” Crown Prosecutor Sara Gul told the court on Thursday.

The court heard that Ms Shao arrived in Australia, via Melbourne, a few days before the procedure and “represented herself as a doctor”.

Jie Shao pictured (centre) has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Damian Shaw.

The court heard that while she had a degree from the Guangdong Medical University in China, she was not registered as a practising doctor in Australia or China.

Ms Huang was a part owner and operated the Chippendale beauty clinic and was put in touch with Ms Shao via a sister clinic in Melbourne.

“(Ms Huang) was in touch with (Ms Shao) and she indicated she would like to increase the size of her breasts and the accused said she had performed this particular procedure,” Ms Gul said.

The Crown says injectable breast augmentations – which involve pumping “filler” material into the patient – were not permitted in Australia.

During her opening address to the jury on Thursday afternoon, Ms Gul told the court that Ms Shao is accused of causing the death of Ms Huang when she administered painkiller Tramadol, an anaesthetic Lidocaine and a hyaluronic acid breast filler.

Ms Gul said the Tramadol, which was from Portugal, and the filler, from Korea, were not approved for use in Australia.

She said Ms Shao is accused of administering a fatal overdose of Lidocaine to Ms Huang.

“In that room things went very, very badly,” Ms Gul told the court.

“And that’s because, the Crown says, the accused administered a dose of Lidocaine well in excess of the recommended maximum dose.

“She ordered too much to be mixed up and she gave Ms Huang too much.”

The court heard one woman working at the facility, who had a nursing degree but was not a registered nurse at the time, prepared the Lidocaine.

The Crown Prosecution argues she was acting under the instruction of Ms Shao.

Jean Huang died following a cosmetic procedure at her Chippendale clinic. Picture: Facebook.

The court heard that during the procedure, Ms Huang began convulsing and foaming at the mouth before going into cardiac arrest.

The facility did not have resuscitation equipment, the court heard on Thursday.

Paramedics were able to restart Ms Huang’s heart, but when she arrived in hospital it was discovered she was braindead, due to a lack of oxygen, and two days later her life support was turned off.

Ms Shao’s barrister Winston Terracini SC described Ms Huang’s death as a “tragedy”.

He argued that Ms Shao was asked to do the procedure and played no role in running the clinic.

He said the jury will hear during the trial that Ms Shao asked for the drugs to be made up, and the nurse provided them to her.

“That’s a real issue in the case, who mixed up the Lidocaine and the other sedative opiate drug,” Mr Terracini said.

The trial before Judge Timothy Gartelmann continues on Wednesday.

Originally published as Woman denies ‘boob job’ killing in fatal mix up