Woman’s death after wellness spa injection is ruled a homicide

• The death of 27-year-old Elizabeth Baron after an NAD+ injection at a Bronx wellness spa was ruled a homicide due to a cardiac air embolism.
• Luis Rojas Cabrera, who administered the injection without a US medical licence, faces serious charges; he claims the death was accidental.
• The case highlights risks in the unregulated longevity wellness industry, where treatments lack oversight and safety protections for patients.

NEW YORK – The death of a 27-year-old woman who was injected with a substance at a Bronx wellness centre in July has been ruled a homicide, according to a spokesperson from the city medical examiner’s office.

The woman, Elizabeth Baron, of the Bronx, died from a cardiac air embolism, according to the autopsy results. An embolism can occur when air enters an intravenous catheter, and the gas travels straight to the heart.

The ruling paves the way for prosecutors to seek more serious charges against the man, Luis Rojas Cabrera, who administered Baron an intravenous infusion of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, or NAD+, in July.

Baron, who lived less than 3.2km from the wellness centre, died about an hour after receiving the infusion.

Cabrera pleaded not guilty that month to reckless endangerment and unauthorised practice of a profession. It was unclear on Sept 21 whether he had been charged with additional crimes.

Cabrera’s lawyer, Donald Vogelman, said on Sept 21 that “a homicide is not necessarily a murder but may be caused by an accident”.

“Homicide is defined as the taking of a person’s life, regardless of the intent or the circumstances surrounding the death,” he said.

“In this case, if there was a homicide, it was caused by an accident. I am certain that my client will be fully exonerated in court.”

NAD+ is a molecule found in cells that is critical for energy production and other fundamental biological processes. NAD+ has become a popular longevity supplement, but there is little evidence it works in humans, and its use is largely unregulated.

Longevity has become a booming part of the wellness industry, but there are few guardrails to protect patients.

There is no board certification to practise longevity medicine in the United States, and many of the treatments purported to help with ageing, such as peptides and supplements, have scant research in humans and little to no oversight from the Food and Drug Administration.

In New York, a person must be a licensed medical practitioner to administer an intravenous substance. Cabrera does not have a licence to practise medicine in the United States, according to the criminal complaint.

On July 19 at about noon at the wellness spa, Bereshit Lifestyle Center, Cabrera inserted an intravenous line in Baron’s right hand to administer NAD+, prosecutors said.

“She went unconscious immediately,” Cabrera later told investigators, according to the criminal complaint. “I called 911.”

Emergency medical workers took Baron to a hospital, the complaint said. She was declared dead at 1.09pm.

Cabrera, who said he is a licensed doctor in the Dominican Republic, told investigators that he “made a very big mistake”.

“I need to call my family because I have a feeling I will not be home for a while,” he said, according to the complaint.

The case is expected to go to a grand jury before Cabrera’s next court appearance on Oct 8. NYTIMES

• Additional reporting by Dana G. Smith

• This article originally appeared in The New York Times.