A Florida plastic surgeon has been charged in connection with the death of his wife, who went into cardiac arrest as he performed a series of cosmetic procedures on her at his clinic last year.
Benjamin Jacob Brown surrendered to authorities Monday and was charged with second-degree felony homicide: manslaughter by culpable negligence, in the death of his 33-year-old wife, Hillary Ellington Brown, the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office announced. She died in November 2023 after suffering a medical emergency at Restore Plastic Surgery in Gulf Breeze.
The mother of three was transported to a nearby hospital, where she was put on life support for a week before her eventual death, the Pensacola News Journal reported.
According to a subsequent Florida Health Department probe, Brown initially declined to call 911 when his wife’s heart stopped. Investigators said he also waited up to 20 minutes before administering CPR and that he did not have life-saving equipment readily available in his office at the time of the emergency. What’s more, Brown did not follow proper medical protocol when administering sedatives, per the probe.
In May, an order of emergency restriction for the plastic surgeon’s medical license was filed by the state’s Department of Health. According to the filing, Hillary was slated to undergo “miniature muscle plication/abdominal scar revision, bilateral arm liposuction, lip injections, and ear adjustment procedures” on the day her heart stopped. The same morning, she also “prepared her own” IV bags and “ingested a ‘handful’ of multi-colored pills, which included valium,” before the procedure.
While Brown was performing the liposuction, Hillary became “restless and her feet began twitching.” She said at the time that her vision started to blur and “told told Dr. Brown that she saw ‘orange.’” Investigators noted these are signs of lidocaine toxicity, with her cause of death later determined to be “complications following lidocaine toxicity.”
The plastic surgeon was being held Tuesday at the Santa Rosa County Jail.
