Woman dies after nose surgery by doctor with worst malpractice record in New York

• An apparently healthy 42-year-old woman died last week following a nose job and face-lift by a Manhattan plastic surgeon with the state's worst malpractice record.
• Kay Kelly Cregan, a mother of two young sons who flew to the city from her home in Ireland, went into cardiac arrest in the recovery room of Dr. Michael Sachs' office on March 15.
• His official physician profile shows he has made 33 malpractice payments during the past decade, more than any other doctor in the state, according to a News analysis ofthe National Practitioner Data Bank public file.
• Additionally, there are two malpractice suits pending against Sachs alleging breathing difficulties stemming from botched nose jobs.
• Kelly said the article Cregan saw also didn't note that state health officials, citing negligence, last year banned Sachs from ever performing complex nasal procedures without the supervision of another doctor.
• Sachs' lawyer Jay Butterman said the disciplinary action did not prohibit the doctor from doing the type of surgery that he performed on Cregan by himself.
• The Health Department is investigating Cregan's death, as it does all unexpected hospital deaths, said Van Slyke.
• Kelly, a nurse in the Boston area, notified The News of her sister's death after finding articles about Sachs on the Internet.
• After seeing the Irish newspaper article, Cregan wrote an E-mail to Sachs, laying out why she wanted the surgery, according to medical and other records her sister provided to The News.
• The call from Sachs' office about a patient in cardiac arrest came into the 911 switchboard at 6:37 a.m., said David Billig, a Fire Department spokesman.
• Hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers are required to have equipment and personnel capable of restarting a patient's heart, but doctors aren't, he said.