Tampa, Florida – February 23, 2011 – Like any bride, Crystal Hill wanted to look fabulous for her wedding on February 12, 2010. So after losing 60 pounds from dieting and exercise, her girlfriends suggested liposuction so she’d look her best for her big day and her new husband. Her girlfriends recommended Dr. Yves Jean-Baptiste because some of them had used him for liposuction procedures without complications. No one told Crystal Hill that Dr. Jean-Baptiste started doing liposuction procedures at his north Tampa family practice after completing a three day course in South Florida. Crytall Hill only became aware of that after reading an article in the St. Petersburg Times on August 7, 2010 entitled “Limited training among some cosmetic surgery doctors worries state officials.” According to the article, the Florida Board of Medicine recommended Dr. Jean-Baptiste’s medical license be suspended for one year and pay a $50,000.00 fine for allowing unlicensed assistants to perform liposuction procedures.

Crystal had reservations about having any type of cosmetic surgery, but with her approaching wedding and unattractive loose skin resulting from her weight loss, she decided to make the appointment. She first met with Dr. Jean-Baptiste on April 14, 2009 and felt comfortable with his recommendations because of her girlfriends’ successes and because Dr. Jean-Baptiste was board certified. Not until later would Crystal come to realize that there is a significant difference between board certification in family medicine which Dr. Jean-Baptiste was, versus board certification in plastic surgery, which he was not.

Dr. Jean-Baptiste performed two separate liposuction procedures on Ms. Hill. The first one went relatively well. The second one to her back side did not. Attorney Dale Appell in Tampa, Florida filed a lawsuit yesterday on Crystal Hill’s behalf and says, “According to our expert, a board certified plastic surgeon, Mr. Hill was not an appropriate candidate for liposuction because even after losing 60 pounds, Crystal’s body mass index was still too high. During the surgery, the doctor removed too much fat tissue from Ms. Hill and infused too much fluid. This can traumatize the skin around the surgical site causing it to die and makes the patient more susceptible to infection.”

And infection in the area of the liposuction is exactly what happened to Crystal. But rather than send Crystal to an infectious disease specialist, Dr. Jean-Baptiste and his staff attempted to treat the infection in his office by removing infected tissue from Crystal on almost a daily basis for approximately two weeks. During one of her last appointments, Dr. Jean-Baptiste sutured the large area with the infection still inside Crystal. Although Crystal grew increasingly concern about the infection and the way it was being treated, Dr. Jean-Baptiste appeared confident and then there was that Board Certification certificate on his wall. “Because he was a board certified doctor, I trusted him… too much,” says Ms. Hill.

Eventually Crystal’s fiance insisted Crystal see her primary doctor. Once her primary doctor unwrapped the bandages exposing the large area of infection, that doctor immediately admitted Crystal to the hospital, where the sutures were removed and the infection treated. Crystal cancelled her February wedding since she was still undergoing wound treatment several months after she was first admitted to the hospital. Crystal and her husband did eventually get married … but without any family or friends present. Grateful to be alive after the ordeal, Crystal now lives with permanent and significant deformity of the surgical area. She also has a large area of irreversible and permanent scarring in addition to pain and a diminished range of motion.

Similar to the case mentioned in the St. Petersburg Times article, Ms. Hill believes that unlicensed assistants performed liposuction on her and that the reports failed to properly documented both the surgery and the treatment afterward. According to her attorney Mr. Appell, in addition to her lawsuit, Ms. Hill also filed a complaint with the Florida Department of Health. It’s Ms. Hill’s hope that the Department and the Florida Board of Medicine will take appropriate action.

Contact Dale Appell, Esq. if you would like additional information at 813-877-3253 or dappell@wefightforjustice.com. An interview with Crystal Hill can be arranged as she seeks to bring awareness to the public of the issues regarding board certification, adequate training and cosmetic surgery.

Dale Appell
Personal Injury Law
3001 North Rocky Point Dr., Suite 200, Tampa, FL 33607
Phone: (813) 877-DALE – (727) 866-DALE
www.wefightforjustice.com
dappell@wefightforjustice.com

Author Bio: Dale Appell Personal Injury Law 3001 North Rocky Point Dr., Suite 200, Tampa, FL 33607 Phone: (813) 877-DALE – (727) 866-DALE http://www.wefightforjustice.com dappell@wefightforjustice.com

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