An Orlando doctor has had his medical license revoked after allegedly botching a “Brazilian Butt Lift” surgery that ended in the death of a patient.
Christopher AR Walker, who practiced at Beja Body Med Spa in Florida, operated on a 38-year-old woman in January 2021, according to a complaint against the doctor.
The procedure required the doctor to perform liposuction on the patient’s back and abdomen, after which the fat was repositioned in her buttocks.
The complaint alleges that Walker “repeatedly cut through” the patient’s abdominal muscles during the procedure, and in doing so punctured several of her organs and arteries. News 6 Orlando reports.
Around 3pm on the day of surgery, the patient reportedly went into cardiac arrest, after which Walker and his team attempted CPR and administered epinephrine as they tried to save her. He was later taken to a hospital for emergency treatment.
Hospital workers found that the woman’s pancreas, colon and liver had been damaged during the BBL procedure and that she was bleeding from wounds in her abdomen.
As a result of the punctures, the patient suffered severe internal bleeding and died later that night, according to the complaint.
“[Walker] knew or had reason to know that he was not competent to perform liposuction due to his lack of education, training and/or experience,” it states.
According to state records, Walker was licensed as a physician but not a board-certified plastic surgeon. However, a doctor does not have to be a board-certified plastic surgeon to perform the procedure in Florida.
After the woman’s death, the Florida Board of Medicine requested that the case be reviewed by a board-certified plastic surgeon. The surgeon found that Walker had made fatal mistakes during the procedure and noted that “liposuction is not within Dr Walker’s field of expertise as a urogynaecologist.”
On December 5, Walker appeared before the Florida Board of Medicine, where the board agreed with a state judge’s recommendation that he revoke his license to practice medicine.
During the hearing, Walker cited a criminal case from 2020 in which he instructed a witness not to turn over documents to the government about his plan to siphon off a patient’s settlement money. In that case he avoided a lengthy prison sentence — but had to pay more than $800,000 — and said the stress of the criminal investigation contributed to the mistake that killed his patient.
“In my eagerness to help my patients suffering excruciating pain from defective plexus implants, I unfortunately inadvertently failed to comply with patient travel laws, resulting in criminal charges by a New York District Attorney. During this turmoil, when I was criminally charged, my freedom and life were threatened. I tragically lost a patient under my care,” he said. “This unspeakable tragedy has left me deeply saddened.”
Walker said he was “absolutely devastated” and that in his 25 years as a surgeon the woman was the only patient he operated on who had ever died.
“I understand that the mistake, although unintended, caused tremendous pain and suffering, and I am filled with deep sorrow for the family affected by this loss and offer them my deepest apologies,” Walker said during the hearing. “Their pain is a burden I live with every day.”
Walker pressed the board not to revoke his license and called for “redemptive justice,” but the board was unmoved by his appeal.
