US plastic surgeon charged with killing his wife after refusing to call 911 when she began seizing on his operating table

Tuesday, June 18, 2024 - A plastic surgeon has been arrested and charged in connection with his surgery-obsessed wife's death on his operating table.

The victim, 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.' 

Dr. Brown, 40, was charged on Monday, June 17,  with second-degree felony homicide: manslaughter by culpable negligence in connection with his wife's death following an investigation by county and state officials.

Shocking details of her death have been revealed following an investigation by the state health department.

Dr. Brown's wife was having a 'miniature muscle plication/abdominal scar revision, bilateral arm liposuction, lip injections, and ear adjustment procedures' performed on the day of the cardiac arrest.

The findings of the investigation, which led to an emergency restriction of his license - show that Hillary, who had no medical training, almost acted as a nurse for her own procedure.

Hillary is said to have spiked her own IV bag while taking a 'handful' of pills that included Valium.

Dr. Brown even allowed Hillary to suture her own skin after the initial procedure.

As her husband began to do liposuction on her arm, Hillary started to grow restless, when her feet suddenly started to twitch.

'She stated that her vision started to blur, and she told Dr. Brown that she saw 'orange,'' the report claims.

However, her husband didn't stop the procedure, continuing to inject substances into her face.

Her twitching only got worse, until she became unresponsive and began having a seizure, the medical board says.

A medical assistant asked Dr. Brown if they should call 911 and Dr. Brown said 'no,'' despite Hillary's condition requiring a doctor to 'transfer to a higher level of care' after her seizure.

'Over the next 10-20 minutes, a medical assistant asked Dr. Brown if they should call 911 and Dr. Brown said 'no,' or 'wait.' The medical assistant was scared and a new employee, so she did as Dr. Brown instructed.'

Dr. Brown didn't just refuse to take Hillary to emergency care, he began to yell at his staff and asked her what she took.

He finally asked an assistant to dial 911 10 to 20 minutes after his wife's seizure.

A mother of three young children from a previous marriage, Hillary Brown spent a week in a coma before she passed away, she was taken off life support when it was determined her brain had been starved of oxygen.

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.

'Her cause of death was later determined to be 'complications following lidocaine toxicity,' the report states.

Ultimately, the board's official ruling says the way he treated his own wife was 'careless and haphazard.'

'The level of disregard Dr. Brown paid to patient safety, even when the patient was his wife, indicates that Dr. Brown is unwilling or incapable of providing the appropriate level of care to his future patients,' they wrote. 

'Dr. Brown's most problematic violation during H.R.'s procedure was his failure to react swiftly in response to a serious medical emergency.'

Brown could face up to life in prison, life on probation, and a $10,000 fine if convicted of second-degree homicide.

Her husband's clinic is reportedly also facing several separate medical malpractice lawsuits.

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 appreciated his career.

'She was gorgeous. We kept telling her, 'Why are you doing this?' he recalled.

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 the 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.'