Wellness Center Owner Charged After Death of 27-Year-Old Patient in the Bronx

Wellness Center Owner Charged After Death of 27-Year-Old Patient in the Bronx

On July 19, Elizabeth Baron visited Bereshit Lifestyle Center on Riverdale Avenue in the Bronx for what police described as a rejuvenation injection. She became ill during the procedure and was pronounced dead at NewYork-Presbyterian Allen Hospital.

On July 20, ABC7 reported that the center's owner, Luis Rojas Cabrera, had been charged with reckless endangerment and the unauthorized practice of a profession. According to authorities, he is licensed in the Dominican Republic but not in the United States.

A patient may purchase a single service marketed as rejuvenation, but that service depends on several distinct decisions. These include the substance itself, its manufacture and quality control, dose preparation, the method of administration, and the person monitoring the patient. To the person on the treatment table, all of these steps appear to be a single infusion or injection.

Lifespan reports that Baron received an intravenous treatment containing NAD⁺, a coenzyme involved in cellular energy metabolism and DNA repair. NAD⁺ is marketed to the longevity sector in supplements, nasal sprays, and intravenous infusions. The simple promise of “raising NAD⁺ levels” can easily obscure the fact that intravenous administration remains a medical procedure.

In his discussion with Lifespan, aging researcher Matt Kaeberlein identified several possible sources of risk: the biology of the intervention, manufacturing and quality control, preparation, and administration. He specifically described services provided by unlicensed practitioners and through unregulated channels as dangerous. The name of a procedure does not answer the questions that matter most to a patient: who administers the substance, how it was prepared, and who is responsible for safety.