Painter Law Firm filed a medical malpractice lawsuit in North Texas on behalf of a client against an obstetrician who held himself out as a cosmetic surgeon. Despite his advertising, this physician wasn't board certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery.
This doctor had a long history with the Texas Medical Board:
• In 2018, the Texas Medical Board entered an agreed order against the doctor, after concluding that he improperly advertised that he was board-certified by the American Board of Anti-Aging and Regenerative Medicine. That independent board isn’t recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties and hasn’t been approved by the Texas Medical Board for physician advertising. The Board ordered the physician to pay a penalty of $5,000 and take additional training.
• Also in 2018, the Texas Medical Board entered an agreed order against the surgeon over improperly advertising using photos and videos without explicitly identifying the subjects as models and not actual patients. When surgeons or physicians use photos or videos of individuals, many potential patients may understandably think that they depict actual patients and results. That’s why the Board requires specific disclosures to avoid misleading the public.
• In 2011, the Texas Medical Board ordered the doctor to pay a penalty of $1,000 after finding that he failed to follow the standard of care in diagnosing a patient’s Clostridium difficule infection. The Board also ordered him to get additional training on handling complications. Generally speaking, medical experts believe that the sooner any infection is diagnosed, and then cultured to obtain the proper antibiotic that can treat it, the better the expected outcome for the patient.
• In 2008, the Texas Medical Board fined the surgeon for false and misleading advertising, ordering a penalty of $1,000.
Based on the surgeon's advertising and website, our client was unaware that his training was in gynecology, not plastic or cosmetic surgery—or of his disciplinary history with the Texas Medical Board. That’s why she agreed to proceed with surgical procedures that he suggested, including full abdominoplasty, liposuction with fat transfer to face, breast augmentation with silicone gel implants, vertical and wise pattern breast lift.
The surgeon perform these procedures at his in-office surgery center in 2019.
The medical malpractice lawsuit petition that we filed on behalf of our client details how within one week, the surgeon noted in the patient’s medical records that she had decaying and dying necrotic tissue on her abdominal wall. He waited another week to begin the painful debridement process of scraping away that tissue and then treated it with an application of honey. The surgeon then referred her for wound care and a wound vac.
The board-certified plastic surgeon whom we retained review this case is critical of the fact that the doctor failed to treat the clear signs and symptoms of infection by taking a fluid sample and sending it to a lab for culture and sensitivity testing.
Eventually, this patient was diagnosed with the dangerous and dreaded methicillin-resistant staph aureus (MRSA) infection, which was hard to shake. She also endured months of wound care treatment, including local wound care, negative pressure therapy, and even hyperbaric oxygen treatment.
Our plastic surgery expert believes that if the surgeon had properly cultured and treated the patient’s infection, she would have likely avoided the extensive wound care treatment and injuries that she has sustained. Even after treatment by a new, properly credentialed plastic surgeon, she’s left with significant permanent disfigurement and abdominal pain.
If you’ve been seriously injured because of botched plastic or cosmetic surgery by in Texas, then contact a top-rated experienced Houston, Texas medical malpractice lawyer for help in evaluating your potential case.
