Here’s another reason to take online physician ratings with several grains of salt
Below is a screenshot taken from the Healthgrades website on April 15, 2016 regarding Florida surgeon Osak Omulepu.
Four stars—not bad.
Two months ago, The Florida Board of Health issued an emergency order prohibiting Dr. Omulepu from performing an operation known as the “Brazilian butt lift.”
The procedure, which requires general anesthesia, is done by suctioning fat from the abdominal wall and other parts of the torso and injecting it into the buttocks to create a larger, more rounded look.
In the span of three days, four of Dr. Omulepu’s patients suffered significant complications as a result of their butt lifts. Two women had liver and small intestine lacerations, and one of them developed acute kidney and respiratory failure from sepsis.
The other two women were hospitalized with serious infections.
The fat is suctioned from the subcutaneous tissue using a long metal pipe that is repeatedly inserted underneath the skin and moved back and forth. The bowel and liver injuries must have occurred when the pipe inadvertently and unknowingly entered the peritoneal cavity.
In a promotional video, which you can see embedded in this Miami Herald article, the surgeon says, “My specialty that I love to do is the Brazilian butt lift. I’m known to be very aggressive when it comes to liposuction.” An understatement.
According to the Healthgrades site, Dr. Omulepu has had no malpractice claims, sanctions, or board actions.
The doctor is apparently not board certified in either general or plastic surgery. Other interesting features of this story are that the doctor does not carry malpractice insurance, and that “emergency order” issued by the Florida Department of Health took place 9 months after the four patients were injured.
In mid-March, the Florida Board of Health asked the state’s Board of Medicine to permanently revoke Dr. Omulepu’s medical license. Let’s see how long that takes.
Skeptical Scalpel is a retired surgeon and was a surgical department chairman and residency program director for many years. He is board-certified in general surgery and a surgical sub-specialty and has re-certified in both several times. For the last six years, he has been blogging at SkepticalScalpel.blogspot.com and tweeting as @SkepticScalpel. His blog has had more than 2,500,000 page views, and he has over 15,500 followers on Twitter.
SkepticalScalpel