- Dr Ben Brown is under investigation after his wife Hillary suffered a cardiac arrest on his operating table
- The Florida plastic surgeon is accused of medical malpractice including trialing a new drug when he put his wife under the knife
- Hillary, a mother of three, was said to have become obsessed with plastic surgery and appeared to have undergone a dramatic transformation
A Florida plastic surgeon is under investigation after his surgery-obsessed wife suffered a cardiac arrest while on his operating table.
Hillary Brown, 33, went under the knife on November 21 at her husband Dr Ben Brown’s clinic, Restore Plastic Surgery, in Gulf Breeze Florida, before suffering a medical emergency in the middle of ‘several procedures.’
A mother of three young children from a previous marriage, Brown spent a week in a coma before she passed away, as she was taken off life support when it was determined her brain had been starved of oxygen.
Her husband’s clinic is reportedly facing several separate medical malpractice lawsuits, and is being investigated by the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office.
Brown passed away seven days after the fateful procedure on November 21, when she was rushed to hospital after Ben alerted 911 from his clinic at around 4:15pm.
Court records seen by USA Today noted that she was ‘in the process of several surgical procedures when she was struck by the cardiac arrest, after being potentially overmedicated.
Brown’s father, Marty Ellington, told the Pensacola News Journal that he received a frantic phone call from Ben telling them to race to Florida from their home in Texas right away.
While saying her relationship with Ben had been volatile, Ellington said she enjoyed being married to a plastic surgeon as he could perform any number of surgeries on her at a whim.
‘She was gorgeous. We kept telling her, ‘Why are you doing this?’ he recalled.
An award-winning surgeon, Ben studied at Georgetown University and graduated top of his medical school class, according to his company profile. His specialties include breast enhancement, facial rejuvenation and body contouring.
Hillary reportedly married Brown around two years ago, and Ellington said their marriage was ‘intense’, speculating she may have wanted to leave Ben if her marriage didn’t come with the added benefit of frequent plastic surgeries.
‘I think that maybe she would want to leave… but she couldn’t because the lifestyle was favorable,’ he said.
Her social media pages also appear to show the young mother went through a dramatic plastic surgery transformation in recent years, and the frequent procedures led Ellington to question if proper protocols were being followed by Ben.
Ellington claimed that the surgeon told them they were ‘out of’ the medicine they would usually use, ‘so he used something different.’
He also claims there was no crash cart in the operating room with life-saving equipment such as oxygen and defibrillators.
‘With the amount of swelling in her brain that means her brain suffered from lack of oxygen for quite some time,’ Ellington said, claiming there was a lack of properly trained staff on hand to help in case of emergency.
‘We want answers,’ he continued.
‘We haven’t been given answers. If it’s a mistake, it was a mistake, but it doesn’t bring my daughter back, you know. I don’t want his money. I don’t want anything. All I want is an answer because I think that we owe that to my daughter.’
Ellington added that even if Hillary had wanted to leave her husband, she would have delayed because ‘she already has one failing marriage.’
‘She didn’t want to drag the kids through it because she was so giving and caring for her kids. She didn’t want to drag the kids through that again.’
According to the Pensacola News Journal, deputies previously responded to a call at the couple’s $2.1 million Florida mansion in March, ‘in reference to a suicide.’
Ben reportedly told dispatcher his wife was ‘barely conscious and still unresponsive due to self-medication with an unknown amount of Valium.’ Hillary admitted to taking the Valium but denied being suicidal, saying she just wanted her husband to know ‘she was serious.’
Ben also paid tribute to his wife on social media on November 24, three days after he performed the final surgery on her, as he asked people to ‘pray for a miracle’.
‘We called 911 and started CPR. Her heart came back but her brain is not doing well,’ he wrote at the time. ‘Hillary Ellington Brown you are my soulmate, my world, my everything. Please come back. Please!’
Brown’s Restore Plastic Surgery reportedly has two medical malpractice lawsuits against it, with one listing Ben as a defendant, according to USA Today.
That case saw Wendy Carden allege that Ben used ‘foreign materials’ in a post-mastectomy reconstructive breast surgery in 2018, causing infection and sepsis.
Carden also claimed she suffered nerve damage and permanent injury as a result of having her arms positioned above her head, accusing Brown of ‘negligently failing to periodically monitor the position of the upper extremities.’
The case is being heard in the Escambia County Circuit Court, and is ongoing.
With Brown remaining under investigation, his family released a statement condemning allegations of malpractice against the plastic surgeon, saying ‘his deep grief and shock is only compounded by many mistruths circulating online and in the media.’
‘Ben is completely devastated by the sudden loss of his loving wife Hillary, and is desperately trying to understand how to live one day, never mind a lifetime without her by his side,’ the statement read.
The statement said the surgery was ‘minor and routine’ when Hillary suffered her medical emergency, all proper medical protocols were followed, and trained staff were also on the scene.
‘Our lives have been permanently upended by the loss of Hillary and we will forever keep her in our hearts,’ the family’s statement concluded.
Emily Foster is a globe-trotting journalist based in the UK. Her articles offer readers a global perspective on international events, exploring complex geopolitical issues and providing a nuanced view of the world’s most pressing challenges.
