A Florida surgeon has been charged in his wife’s death after she went into cardiac arrest on his operating table and he hesitated to call 911, according to the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office.
Benjamin Brown, 41, was arrested Monday on charges of murder and manslaughter, the sheriff’s office said in a statement. Press release.
Deputies responded to the Restore Plastic Surgery clinic in Gulf Breeze on Nov. 21, 2023, for a medical emergency. Benjamin Brown was operating on Hillary Brown, who was unresponsive and began having a seizure while receiving multiple procedures.
She was taken to a hospital where she was placed on life support, according to the sheriff’s office. She died a week later.
“After an extensive investigation in conjunction with the District One Medical Examiner’s Office and the State Attorney’s Office, our detectives requested an arrest warrant for Dr. Benjamin Brown,” the sheriff’s office said.
In May, the Florida Department of Health filed a document requesting to restrict Benjamin Brown’s medical license in the state. According to the health department, Benjamin Brown was performing a scar revision, arm liposuction, lip injection and ear tuning procedures on Hillary Brown on November 21, 2023. Hillary Brown allegedly prepared her own IV bags and took a “handful of multicolored pill solutions” including Valium before procedures.
Benjamin Brown did not accurately document the contents of the IV bag and the pills were not documented in any way, according to the health department.
Hillary Brown also helped with her own procedures, stitching the skin back together. It is unclear whether she has any medical training. Hillary can sometimes be seen on the Restore Plastic Surgery Facebook page, including in one publish where she can be seen in medical scrubs.
Hillary Brown became restless and her feet began shaking during part of the procedures, according to the health department. She also told her husband that her vision started to get blurry and that she saw orange.
“Restlessness, muscle spasms and blurred vision are early signs of lidocaine toxicity,” the health department said in the document.
Witnesses told the sheriff’s office that even after Hillary Brown began showing signs of overdosing, he “continued injecting unknown amounts of lidocaine and did not stop until the victim had a seizure and went into cardiac arrest,” according to an arrest warrant. .
When a medical assistant asked Benjamin Brown if they should call 911, he said “no” or “wait,” the health department said. An employee told the sheriff’s office that he was asked “several times” if he wanted them to call 911, but he said “he wanted to try to do it himself,” according to the arrest warrant.
It wasn’t until about 10 to 20 minutes after the seizure that Benjamin Brown asked an assistant to call 911, according to the health department.
Hillary Brown was taken to a trauma center by emergency crews “with an elevated lactic acid level and suspected lidocaine toxicity.” She never regained consciousness and died on November 28, 2023.
Benjamin Brown was arrested for second-degree manslaughter and negligent homicide. He was booked into the Santa Rosa County Detention Center on Monday and released on $50,000 bail the same day, according to online records.
It’s unclear if he has an attorney at this time. An arraignment is scheduled for July 11, according to online records.
Restore Plastic Surgery is listed as “permanently closed” on Google.
This article was originally published in NBCNews. with
