The surgeon who stabbed the TikTok mom before she died of severe brain injuries said it was “hard to understand” what had happened.
Dr. Shahryar Tork, a double-boarded plastic surgeon based in Cincinnati, said the Feb. 25 on Rachel Tussey was “completed successfully and without complications,” and she was “awake and in excellent condition” when she was last seen recovering.
“My heart goes out to Rachel Tussey and her family. My thoughts are with her loved ones at this difficult time,” Tork said in a statement to TMZ.
“Like them, I have trouble understanding how this can happen.
“Rachel’s surgery was completed successfully and without complications,” he said. “When I last saw her in the recovery room preparing for her overnight stay, she was awake and in good spirits with her husband by her side.”
Tussey, a 47-year-old mother of three, had documented her surgery journey to the attention of more than 27,000 followers on TikTok in the days leading up to the procedure.
“I’m in good hands. I know God’s got my back. Let’s do this,” an enthusiastic Tussey said in her final video, dressed in a hospital gown hours before surgery, along with the captions #midlifeglowup and #mommymakeover.
But what should have been a routine appointment quickly turned into a nightmare, her husband Jeremy Tussey later revealed in an update on TikTok.
Jeremy said he was waiting in the recovery room when he was called to return to his wife’s room at around 17:45 in the afternoon after surgery.
He spoke briefly with the doctor who was going to leave on the same day, and he is said to have reassured him that the surgery went well.
Moments later, Jeremy said he heard his wife calling him – before realizing something was wrong.
“The next thing you know, I look down and his face has lost color,” he recalled. “I thought it was because of the surgery, you know, because of the lack of blood.”
When Tussey became unresponsive, medical personnel began performing CPR. He was taken to TriHealth Bethesda North Hospital and treated.
Jeremy said doctors later told him that he had been without oxygen for more than six minutes and had suffered severe brain damage. Tussey was eventually moved to hospice care after medical assistance was withdrawn and later died.
Bernard Layne III, a personal injury attorney representing the family, said Tussey suffered permanent brain damage after surgery at a private surgical center in Cincinnati.
“At this time, we will not comment on any part of the case or the case in this matter,” said Layne, adding that the focus is on supporting the grieving family.
Jeremy said he is determined to understand what went wrong.
“To me, it looks like an impossibility. Someone dropped the ball here,” he said.
Tussey is survived by her husband and their three children, Tristan, Alec and Livi.
