Tuesday, July 30, 2013

TOXIC INJECTIONS

Three women are facing charges, accused of practicing medicine without a license. Investigators say they were injecting people with toxic chemicals.
Investigators say this isn't the first time that one of the women at a clinic in west Harris County has faced charges. Prosecutors confirm there is a lengthy criminal history involving this particular clinic, and charges pending against it. In this latest allegation, in court documents a patient testified that she was lied to and severely injured. Maria Teran is not a medical doctor, but a patient who saw her at a west Houston office says Teran told her she was one. "She went there thinking Maria Teran is a doctor," said Harris County prosecutor Justin Keiter. "She is anything but." The incident happened at Teran's "Le Femme's Clinic" on June 27, when Harris County prosecutors say Teran, assisted by her two daughters, Victoria and Camille Urgiles, who are also charged with felonies, injected Argiform -- a Russian-made gel filler that is not FDA approved -- into the woman's buttocks and her genital area. The patient was charged $4,000 and said she immediately suffered extreme pain and was seen by another doctor who said the substance was toxic. Keiter said, "She had several problems in her buttocks. She had them inject her there. The results in the pictures speak for themselves." Maria Teran has a long history in Harris County. In 2011, she was charged with delivery of a dangerous substance twice -- once for Botox and a second time, for Amoxicillin, an antibiotic. She was also charged with practicing medicine without a license.In April, she was charged again with practicing medicine without a license. Now she has these two latest charges. She was still out on bond for the previous charges.   Attorney Chip Lewis represents Teran and her daughters, and says the allegations are untrue.  "We have reams and reams of interviews of patients who have said that she made it very clear that she and her daughters, when they administered Botox or the like, were doing so under the direction of a doctor," Lewis said. Because of the previous charges against them, Maria Teran and one of her daughters, Victoria Urgiles, are being held without bond. Their next court appearance will be Thursday. Teran's other daughter Camille Urgiles is out on a $100,000 bond.