Florida Plastic Surgeon Likely to Lose Medical License

Last week, Florida’s medical board accused a Miami Plastic Surgeon of misleading patients, lacking sufficient training to perform cosmetic surgery and endangering patients’ lives. These accusations came about after a patient of his died in December of 2017 from a liposuction and fat transfer surgery at a strip mall center.

During a hearing in West Palm Beach, the Florida Board of Medicine proposed to suspend his medical license, which will permanently restrict him from performing cosmetic surgery again, and issue a $40,000 fine. He now has a week to decide whether to accept the punishment or reject it and appeal to the First District Court of Appeals in Tallahassee.

The Health of Staff initially worked out a lesser discipline but Steven Rosenberg, a dermatologist and chair of the medical board, proposed a suspension and fine because he believes the doctor is a danger to his patients.

He started as a general surgeon training in Cuba and became a licensed doctor in Florida in 2001. The medical board strongly believes he is lying about the amount of his medical training. They became skeptical when he decided to use a translator to answer the board’s questions, however, he admitted he has never used a translator with any of his patients because he ‘understands all of their questions.’

One of the patients, a 26 year old woman from Boston, accused the surgeon of puncturing her abdomen muscle and tearing her small intestine with a thin metal rod used to suction and inject fat,causing her to develop a severe blood system infection.

A second patient, a 40 year old mother of two from Louisiana, died in December of 2017 from fat clots in her hearts and lungs due to the same procedure.

The medical board is also accusing him of misleading patients by having consent forms that use the logo and name of the American Society of Plastic Surgery, when he is in fact not board certified in Plastic Surgery.

If you or a loved one have suffered from medical malpractice related to plastic surgery, call and schedule and free consultation with the lawyer at Kaire and Heffernan today.

Samantha Heffernan