NEWSDr. Jan Adams Speaks Out About Donda West
Jan. 31 2008, Published 8:00 a.m. ET
Dr. Jan Adams, the plastic surgeon who operated on Kanye West’s mother Donda before she died following complications from surgery, has opened up to Extra about Donda’s controversial death and reveals he was at her bedside for days following the operation.
“I essentially was there the whole time,” he tells Extra. “I talked to her. I talked to the family. I met them at the hospital.”
Dr. Adams performed a tummy tuck and a breast reduction on Donda that took eight hours, twice as long as expected. Donda died days later on Nov. 10 from complications resulting from the surgery. An autopsy report released earlier this month details that she died from "coronary artery disease and multiple post-operative factors due to or as a consequence of liposuction and mammoplasty."
Her death hit the surgeon hard as he “didn’t just lose a patient, I lost a friend.”
Following Donda’s death, Dr. Adams for past DUI offenses and for lacking a certification from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. But he claims that he’s not angered by the accusations, which have affected his business, admitting that he’s only performed a “few surgeries” since the death.
“I think the media are human beings doing a job. Truly, the hard part is to sit there and shut up while all this is going on,” he says, adding that he can’t divulge information about the surgery due to doctor/patient privilege.
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He does believe the media should let up on Oprah Winfrey though, who referred Donda to him. “I felt the media was kind of hard on Oprah. Here’s this wonderful lady who’s sort of devoted her life to helping people and they tried to ridicule her about somebody having been referred through her.”
Dr. Adams also discussed his infamous walk-off from the set of Lary King Live in November (he made an appearance last week) and defended his actions. “I thought it was the appropriate thing to do… If it’s against the law for me to talk about a patient… Isn’t it against the law for a reporter to ask me? I think I did Larry a favor… What’s really the proof of the pudding is how you react to them bad things, so I chose to honor my agreement with the patient."
As for the possibility of a civil lawsuit from the West family, Dr. Adams doesn’t expect one to be filed “but one can never tell.”
Although he regarding Donda's death in November, Dr. Adams says he doesn't have anything to say to the family now. "It’s time to grieve and grieving is very difficult… I’ll certainly make myself available to the West family when appropriate."
For more on Dr. Adams, tune in to Extra tonight!
