Marble Falls doctor leads push for med spa patient protections after death
Dr. Mary Kelly Green, a Marble Falls ophthalmologist, is working with TX 400, a nonprofit she helped found, to lobby for Jenifer’s Law, The legislation would protect patients undergoing beauty and health treatments at medical spas in Texas. Courtesy photo
The July 2023 death of Jenifer Cleveland at Luxe Med Spa in Wortham, Texas, spurred Marble Falls ophthalmologist Dr. Mary Kelly Green and TX 400 to begin the lengthy process of writing legislation to protect medical spa clients. Jenifer’s Law is expected to be introduced in the next Texas legislative session in January 2025. It would ensure physician oversight during med spa treatments.
TX 400 was founded by Green, its chairperson, and four friends in 2021 as a nonprofit of medical professionals working to protect patients. Medical spas offer skin laser treatments, injectables such as Botox and fillers, and IV drip therapy.
Cleveland, a mother of four, was undergoing an IV treatment that contained a TPN electrolyte solution when she became unresponsive. She was rushed to a hospital, where she died. TPN, or total parenteral nutrition, is used in the medical field to provide needed calories and nutrients without a person having to eat. It is usually given to patients with gastrointestinal issues. Med spa patients use the treatment to boost energy.
Luxe Med Spa’s doctor, who was more than 100 miles away when Cleveland was being treated, had his license suspended by the Texas Medical Board in October. According to court documents, the woman administering the IV was not licensed to perform the procedure.
“She was not a nurse, she was not a doctor, she was not a physician assistant. That should flat out not be allowed,” Dr. Green said in an interview with a Waco TV news station on Oct. 17. “That should not be allowed, and so that is the idea behind Jenifer’s law.”
The IV infusion given to Cleveland contained a vitamin B complex, ascorbic acid, cyanocobalamin, and TPN electrolytes. TPN requires a prescription and oversight by a physician, which is why Green and TX 400 are now crafting a bill to provide more transparency in the med spa industry and empower the Texas Medical Board when it comes to enforcement and punishments for wrongdoing.
“The medical board doesn’t have a purely investigative arm right now,” Green told DailyTrib.com. “Medicaid sent someone to my office to make sure I was physically in the building practicing medicine just like my paperwork said I was. The medical board doesn’t have the ability for that kind of oversight. If I open a med spa and say this is what I’m doing, no one checks on it.”
Green was quick to add that many medical spas do follow safe and ethical practices; however, the sheer number of them makes regulation difficult. A recently completed study by TX 400 found about 300 med spas operating in Texas without a physician on site.
Until new state legislation changes the loophole that allows physicians to allocate duties to unlicensed employees, it is up to the patient to ask the right questions before undergoing a procedure, Green said.
“If you come into a place and someone is doing something to your body, ask who they are,” she said. “Ask about their training. Ask what happens if there is trouble. Transparency in health care is really important.”
Jenifer’s Law will be on top of TX 400’s priority list when the group holds its annual meeting in April.
“We will be drafting, redrafting, and putting forth legislation,” Green said. “If we want more transparency, we have to change the statute.”
3 thoughts on “Marble Falls doctor leads push for med spa patient protections after death”
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Great, another way for the medical industry to make everything more expensive and out of reach for “normal” folks. Licensing schemes and registrations, “oversight” in government lingo, only make it more difficult or impossible for people to start a new business – the old businesses control the industry through political donations (“graft” and “bribery” to normal folks). We need to STOP government from taking control over every little thing in our lives! Be responsible yourself, be aware, do your research, don’t rely on government to live your life or protect you from everything. A physician in a spa! What next, the GYM?!
It’s a medi-spa and the patient was receiving a medical infusion intravenously and the consequence was death. They aren’t talking about a massage or facial.
I’m with Bernadette. The woman died. That’s pretty serious.