Silvina Luna, 43, has been disconnected from life assistance, her lawyer Fernando Burlando confirmed to reporters on Thursday. The actress had spent four months in the ICU and contracted Covid during her hospital stay. Burlando said that she had been “battling for her life.” 

Luna rose to fame after appearing in the Argentine version of Big Brother in 2001. That experience led her to take acting classes, and she subsequently worked in theater productions and movies, as well as a television host.

While participating in El Hotel de los Famosos in 2022 — a reality show in which famous people work together in a hotel — she left to receive an emergency treatment, and her health began to deteriorate. 

Luna struggled for years with body image issues, and a cosmetic surgery she underwent in 2011 is believed to be the source of her health problems. The first alarm came in 2014 when she was hospitalized for kidney stones. At the time, doctors determined that she had been a victim of medical malpractice. Aníbal Lotocki, Luna’s cosmetic surgeon, had allegedly given her doses of methacrylate well over the legal amount. 

While addressing the general public, Burlando said the treatment was tantamount to “putting stones and sand in an engine that needs lubrication.” Luna was diagnosed with renal insufficiency and hypercalcemia, and was prescribed a dialysis treatment three times per week until she could receive a new kidney. She died at the hospital awaiting a transplant.

The battle for justice

Luna was not Lotocki’s only victim. Pamela Sosa, a dancer and the surgeon’s former partner, also suffered serious health problems as a result of one of his procedures. In 2022, a criminal and correctional court sentenced Lotocki to four years in prison, suspending his medical license for five. An appellate court upheld the decision this year, although he remains free for now.

Two weeks before Luna’s death, fashion stylist Mariano Caprarola, one of Lotocki’s patients, died in a hospital while receiving treatment for a renal insufficiency. She was 49.

In recent months, multiple celebrities have spoken out about the surgeon to the stars and the procedures he allegedly performed without their consent. Some of the famous names currently fighting for justice include actress and singer Stefanía Xipolitakis, reality show participant Fran Mariano, TV personality Virginia Gallardo and musician Cristian Zárate, who died in April of 2021.