MOT profiles clinic where Olivia Oras died after procedure

Yle’s MOT investigative programme has reported on Plastic Surgery Center, the Helsinki clinic where social media star Olivia Oras lost consciousness during anaesthesia before a liposuction procedure and later died in hospital.

MOT has no information indicating whether a medical error occurred during Oras’s treatment. Helsinki police are investigating her death as aggravated causing of death, but have not disclosed who is suspected in the case.

Plastic Surgery Center has previously faced repeated criticism over patient safety. Former employees told MOT in 2023 that, among other things, disposable liposuction tubes were washed with dishwashing liquid.

The Finnish Society of Plastic Surgeons filed a criminal report concerning the clinic in 2020, but it did not lead to an investigation.

In 2024, three doctors responsible for the clinic resigned and filed a broad complaint about their former employer with Valvira, the supervisory authority now known as the Finnish Supervisory Agency.

Founder continued complex procedures

Much of the criticism from colleagues has focused on the company’s founder, Karl Johan Svedjeholm.

Svedjeholm is a general practitioner rather than a specialist in plastic surgery. Although this is not illegal, many plastic surgeons consider it a risk.

In 2023, Valvira urged Svedjeholm to perform only procedures covered by his training. He told MOT at the time that the recommendation would not affect his company’s operations.

Based on his Instagram account, Svedjeholm continued to perform liposuction and complex BBL procedures, or Brazilian butt lifts, this year. MOT does not know whether Oras was his patient. Other doctors also work at the clinic.

After Oras’s death, MOT received several messages from doctors who had previously worked at Plastic Surgery Center. They said they were disappointed that the supervisory authority had not intervened sufficiently in the company’s operations. The doctors commented only in general terms and said they had no information about the details of Oras’s death.

Svedjeholm did not respond to MOT’s request for comment.

Police investigate death

MOT reported on Monday that people close to Oras had filed a criminal report with Helsinki police under the heading of aggravated causing of death.

Oras’s parents, art dealer Reijo Oras and artist Johanna Oras, believe the clinic is responsible for their daughter’s death. They did not confirm the name of the clinic to MOT, which identified Plastic Surgery Center through other sources.

Helsinki police said on Tuesday that they had begun a pretrial investigation into Oras’s death.

Aggravated causing of death carries a sentence of between four months and six years in prison. It refers to a crime in which a person causes another person’s death through gross negligence and the offence is considered aggravated as a whole. The classification may change as the investigation progresses.

MOT does not know who police are currently investigating in connection with the suspected crime.