Failed surgery leads to international nightmare for family

HOUSTON (FOX 26) - There has been plenty of prayers at the Courtyard Convalescent Center in Houston -- those prayers are for 38-year-old nurse Lakeshia Sellers Hull. The nursing home employee traveled with her husband to the Dominican Republic for cosmetic surgery.

It is something that thousands of Americans do every year in the medical tourism industry. Hull's family members say then something went wrong and she actually died during her surgery. Dominican doctors were able to revive Hull but placed her in a medically-induced coma until she could be brought back to the U.S.

Because the cosmetic procedure wasn't approved by her U.S.-based healthcare provider, the company would not transport Hull back to the states from the Dominican Republic. Her travel insurance eventually kicked in and allowed her to fly to Florida.

Although Hull is back in the U.S., family members are still raising money to get her to Houston. They say approximately $20,000 is needed while American doctors in Florida still try to determine what went wrong and how to keep her alive.