A DATE of September 15 has been named for the trial of New York cosmetic surgeon Dr. Michael Evan Sachs, the doctor who carried out a face-lift on a Limerick woman in 2005 who died three days after the operation.

Kay Cregan, 42, from Croom, Co. Limerick, died after a face-lift operation performed by Sachs at his Manhattan clinic on March 14, 2005. Shortly after the operation Cregan suffered a heart attack in a recovery room of Sachs’ Manhattan clinic and died on St. Patrick’s Day after she was transferred to nearby St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital.

Cregan paid the doctor $32,000 for her operation, which included accommodation after the procedure.

It also emerged this week that Sachs has been struck off the register of physicians in New York. He received word of the rebuke from the New York State Board for Professional Medical Misconduct, which had investigated his role in the handling of four patients, including Cregan, in 2005.

Sachs’ lawyer, Jay Butterman, argued that Cregan suffered from an undiagnosed irregular heartbeat. However, New York’s Medical Examiner ruled in May 2005 that Cregan’s operation was partly to blame for her death, and said she had no pre-existing condition that could have played a role in her death.

Cregan, an employee in Limerick City Council at the time, traveled to New York for her operation after reading a report in an Irish newspaper about a woman from Carlow who attended Sachs’ clinic for a facelift.

Cregan, who is survived by her husband Liam and two sons, Eoghan and Brian, kept the trip a secret from her husband so she could surprise him with her new procedure.

The Cregan family, who are being represented by medical malpractice specialist Thomas Moore, who hails from Waterford, met with Sachs lawyers to set a trial start date for Monday, September 15. In the lawsuit Cregan’s husband blames Sachs of negligence, carelessness and gross indifference. The suit also names Dr. Madhavrao Subbarao, an anesthesiologist, and claims that both doctors failed Cregan during her operation.

Sachs, nicknamed “Dr. Botch” because of his involvement in 30 malpractice cases in a 10-year period, recently sold his New York townhouse for $24 million.

In the coming months a judge will be appointed and a jury of six will be chosen to hear the case. Depending on the verdict, the jury will be asked about monetary damages for the loss, with no limit.

Damages will be decided based on the loss of a wife and mother of two young children, in addition to the pain and suffering Cregan suffered before her death.