Breast Implant Patient Guilty in Surgeon’s Death
A woman who charged that her breast implants leaked was convicted Thursday of murdering her plastic surgeon.
Theresa Ramirez was found guilty of ambushing and killing Dr. Michael Tavis, 53, who performed breast implant surgery on her after a mastectomy.
She was also convicted of attempted murder for critically wounding Tavis’ office manager, Kay Carter, 60.
Ramirez, a former nurse at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Santa Rosa, faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole. A sanity hearing is scheduled to begin Tuesday. Ramirez had entered dual pleas of not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity.
Ramirez, 46, had sued Tavis, charging that he failed to warn her about the potential for leaking implants.
The Petaluma doctor was shot four times July 3, 1997.
Tavis had been sued a dozen times in Sonoma County, mostly medical malpractice complaints.
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