The Waukesha man and his wife, Maureen, have spent two years fighting for a sense of justice in the death of a daughter who fell into a coma during plastic surgery.

Julie Rubenzer, 38, stopped breathing Sept. 25, 2003, while getting breast implants at a doctor's office in Florida. The 1984 graduate of Waukesha South High School never regained consciousness and died three months later at a Brookfield nursing home.

The plastic surgeon, Kurt Dangl, lost his medical license and recently pleaded no contest to an unrelated felony charge of employing an unlicensed nurse.

But the Ayers, who hold Dangl responsible for the loss of their daughter, are not giving up. They have filed a wrongful death suit against him and are pushing to change Florida law to improve the safety of surgical procedures performed in doctor's offices rather than hospitals.

Don Ayer, a longtime marathon runner, said he is frustrated that investigators and other officials in Florida have "stopped short of the finish line."

He and his wife are determined not only to establish responsibility for their daughter's death, but also to make sure that other men and women having plastic surgery are not subjected to the same hazards.

Dangl, 44, who was given one year of probation on the unlicensed nurse charge, could not be reached for comment. The phone at his former Cosmetic Surgery Center in Sarasota, Fla., has been disconnected, and attorneys who have represented him in the past did not return calls for comment.

A prosecutor in the Sarasota County state's attorney's office said the investigation is closed, and officials have found no evidence that Dangl was intentionally negligent in Rubenzer's death.

"I think everybody would agree that there was negligence involved," Lombardo said of Dangl's handling of the surgery. "But that's not a crime. You've got to have more than just negligence."

Rubenzer, who had moved to Florida in 2001, stopped breathing near the end of breast-implant surgery for which she had paid $3,000. Employees assisting with the operation later told investigators that Dangl became exasperated and forbade anyone from resuscitating the patient for several minutes.

Florida health investigators said Dangl tried to function as both surgeon and anesthesiologist and administered such high doses of anesthesia that it caused the patient to stop breathing.

Bruce Crow, an employee who assisted in the surgery, later resigned and contacted the Ayers to offer help in pursuing professional disciplinary action and criminal charges against Dangl. In an interview, Crow said he, too, is disappointed that the now ex-surgeon has not faced prosecution on tougher charges.

The unlicensed nurse charge had nothing to do with Rubenzer's death. It stemmed from another patient's complaint against Dangl. In addition to pleading no contest, Dangl agreed never to seek reinstatement of his medical license.

Don and Maureen Ayer said that although they are pleased that Dangl's plastic surgery career is apparently over, they worry about a lack of standards for other doctors offering quick, easy services in office settings.

Maureen Ayer, 64, is a retired Waukesha schoolteacher, while Don, 68, is a real estate agent known for organizing marathons for charity in the Milwaukee area. They have been married 42 years and have two other children.

They are working with Florida medical professionals to craft tougher restrictions on office surgery. If a law can been passed, they hope it will be called "Julie's Law," after their lost daughter.

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