The Florida Department of Health has issued an emergency order immediately restricting the medical license of Dr. Ben Brown, the Gulf Breeze plastic surgeon whose wife died after he performed several procedures on her after hours in his office last November.
State Surgeon General Dr. Joseph A. Ladapo said Brown’s “inability or unwillingness” to follow basic medical procedure presents an “immediate serious danger to the health, welfare, and safety of the public” and to the citizens of the state of Florida.
In the findings of fact in the 30-page order, the health department describes numerous violations of basic standards of medical care that constitute “medical malpractice,” and Brown is now restricted to only performing procedures or surgeries in a licensed hospital while under the supervision of a licensed physician.
The health department talked to Brown’s patients and employees who told the state that Brown’s practice, Restore Plastic Surgery in the Tiger Point area of Gulf Breeze, was “tumultuous, poorly managed, and that Dr. Brown could be vindictive.” One medical assistant told the department the office was also “dirty and poorly maintained,” that he stored medication, including controlled substances, in an unlocked cabinet, and staff would take Versed, a medication that helps a patient relax or sleep before a surgical procedure, from the cabinet “to take the edge off.”