Overview
- Rebecca DePaula, a 31-year-old NYPD officer and mother of three, flew to Santo Domingo for breast implant removal and died after post-operative complications; relatives and local outlets say she contracted a bacterial infection.
- Her condition worsened after the procedure and she died in the early hours of Sunday, with her remains held at the National Institute of Forensic Sciences for repatriation to the United States.
- DePaula’s family has publicly demanded a malpractice inquiry and her mother has alleged clinic staff did not clearly tell her that her daughter had died when she rushed to the facility.
- Dominican authorities have opened an investigation but have not yet released a formal cause of death, leaving key forensic findings and questions about the clinic’s care unresolved.
- Public-health data show 93 U.S. cosmetic-surgery–related deaths in the Dominican Republic from 2009–2022 and the case has renewed scrutiny of medical tourism after a similar NYPD-linked death in Colombia in October 2025.