'That man has to be stopped': Dr. Ben Brown patients trusted surgeon - and regretted it

Jane Hawkins first consulted with plastic surgeon Dr. Ben Brown to discuss removing her breast implants and to have what’s called a mini-mommy makeover, including a tummy tuck and using fat from her body to rebuild her breasts.

Hawkins drove from Destin to see Brown in Pensacola because he came highly recommended by a friend and others, and she was immediately impressed.

Hawkins underwent a six-hour surgery in November 2022. She awoke to find Brown had completed the procedures she consented to and one procedure she said she had not wanted. Hawkins said Brown put about five pounds of fat in her backside.

Soon, the sutures in her stomach became loose. The wound, by the time she went to the emergency room was nine-inches-wide by four-inches-across, according to another doctor.

“’He gave you completely wrong wound care instructions,’ Hawkins remembered the doctor saying. ‘You looked like you had a ribeye laying on your stomach.’”

Butcher or savior?

Hawkins was one of at least a dozen patients and former employees of Gulf Breeze plastic surgeon Dr. Ben Brown of Restore Plastic Surgery to come forward to the News Journal with concerns about his work following the death of his 33-year-old wife, Hillary Brown.

The mother of three went into cardiac arrest after Brown performed multiple procedures in his office, Nov. 21. She never regained consciousness and died in the hospital on Nov. 28. Hillary Brown's death is now under investigation by the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office.

While some patients told the News Journal they are happy with the procedures Brown performed on them, others say Dr. Brown left them disfigured and dealing with disabilities that will plague them for the rest of their lives.

Brown did not respond directly to allegations made by patients in this story. A spokesman for Brown released a statement that said in part: “Ben is a dedicated and incredibly talented surgeon, with no previous disciplinary actions or marks.”

Numerous calls and emails to the Florida Department of Health and the Florida Board of Medicine with questions about Brown’s practice have not been returned. An online search of a Board of Medicine database reveals the physician has not been cited for any disciplinary actions.

For some patients, that’s hard to believe. Like Hawkins.

Hawkins said her stomach sutures started opening about two weeks after her surgery. There was so much fluid seeping from her incisions, Hawkins said she used menstrual pads to soak it up. She said Brown botched two in-office attempts to close the ever-widening wound on her stomach.

“He started to stitch up the edges of where my opening was,” Hawkins described. “He goes, ‘I don't want this to split any further,’ and I'm like, ‘What?’ Then he said I had to use an acetic acid and gauze to keep the area from getting infected and I had to pack it. So, I did that for two weeks and I had acetic acid soaked in gauze packed into this opening that was seven-by-four inches wide and probably an inch deep, at least. My husband said he could see my muscle wall and he is a 31-year veteran in the Army who has seen a lot of stuff, so I trust his opinion.”

Hawkins also suffered from a condition called necrosis after the surgery, where the skin dies from lack of circulation, which Brown also had to cut out of her belly.

Hillary Brown death: Dr. Ben Brown performed multiple procedures on wife before her heart stopped

‘We don’t experience wounds like this’

Her son Charlie Condon, who was 17 at the time, watched in frustration, fear and helplessness as his mother struggled to recover.

“She could have died,” Condon said. “To this day, I'm still infuriated by the outcome because we'll be doing something, and she'll still have pain.”

Hawkins said when she asked Brown about the complications, he offered to perform follow up surgeries for free.

“Here’s what he said to me,” Hawkins recalled. “’This doesn't happen. We don't experience wounds like this. My staff is not trained to handle wound care.’ He said, ‘This is all my fault, I take 100% responsibility. I will do these surgeries for free to fix this for you. I won't turn it into insurance.' I never took him up on the offer to repair it because I didn't trust him anymore.”

Hawkins called a friend who was a nurse in another state who dropped everything to visit her in Florida.

“She said, 'We need to go to the emergency room,'” said Hawkins. “I went to the emergency room at Eglin Air Force Base, at that hospital in January. The doctor said, ’The only way I'm allowed to see you is to take care of getting this wound cleaned up and getting you closed up.’

"And she said, ‘Based on what I'm seeing here, you are three to six months from this wound being closed.' Later, she told me, ‘I was afraid that you would go septic.’"

Pensacola nurse Joy Edwards was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2017. After undergoing chemotherapy and overcoming the illness, she had a mastectomy and needed reconstructive breast surgery.

Another nurse, who was also a cancer survivor, recommended Brown. Edwards and her husband consulted with Brown, who they say told them he had a “99% success rate” with her type of procedure. In 2019, he performed the surgery.

“There were complications right away,” said Edwards, a nurse of 35 years. “I know that one of my lungs got nicked during the surgery, so when I came out of surgery, I also had a chest tube,” Edwards remembered.

“Within 24 hours, the left side started to fail, and they took me back in trying to save that side and that didn't work. I can remember the right side, I was in the hospital and a nurse was with me and we literally saw the right side, my nipple, everything just turned black. She called the doctor (Ben Brown) and she explained that we had a drastic change in what looks like blood flow, and she was told that it was nothing to worry about.”

Believing it was OK, Edwards went home but within days had more problems.

“The wounds were not only opening up they were seeping, and it was foul smelling, green, just pouring out of me and I can remember calling his office and just crying saying, ‘There's something wrong,” Edwards said. “I was communicating with him that I felt like there was something very wrong with me and I was always assured, ‘No, this is normal. This is something to be expected,' even though I didn’t think it was normal.”

After a month of dealing with what appeared to be infection with no change in the result, Edwards’ health deteriorated where she was no longer able to walk, drive or raise her arms above her head. She said Brown performed surgery on her again to address it and do reconstruction, but Edwards said afterward she still had infection.

Eventually Brown admitted her to Sacred Heart Hospital, and they put her on IV antibiotics, Edwards said, and used a tool to “blast out all of the pus that was in there. There were four hospital-acquired microorganisms growing in the wound.”

Edwards said she went to physical therapy to be able to walk and lift her arms normally again. The wound on her chest remained open for two months and had to be cleaned and packed daily to heal.

Even four years after the surgery, Edwards still takes medicine for the nerve pain and has muscle spasms almost daily. She said she didn’t pursue a complaint or litigation, because after surviving cancer and the pain of her reconstructive surgery she only wanted to focus on the positive parts of her life.

'I didn't question it. I just, I believed him'

Brandi Fitzsimmons is another patient who says she suffered permanent damage after seeing Brown.

In October of 2021, Fitzsimmons said Brown performed several procedures on her including a breast implant exchange, liposuction of her sides, back and arms, and fat injections in her hips. She also had an extended tummy tuck.

However, the work did not turn out like she had planned.

Fitzsimmons said the liposuction on her arms looks unfinished and left her with uneven lumps. She said he also injected fat into her buttocks she did not want, and an incision in her stomach opened up after the staples were removed leaving a long, deep “tunnel” in her stomach that took a long time to heal.

She said she had two, painful revision procedures in his office to address the problems. What was supposed to be a recovery process of about two weeks, ultimately took a year and a half.

“Knowing now what we were told was normal,” said Fitzsimmons, “That having a hole, a tunnel in your stomach, is normal and part of the process, knowing now so many other women that have had similar situations, it's just then I feel the guilt set in because I didn't say anything sooner. I didn't question it. I just, I believed him. We trusted him. I am recovered, but still have nerve damage issues.”

Plastic surgeon offers insight

Dr. Josef Hadeed, MD, FACS, is a plastic surgeon with practices in both Miami, Florida, and Beverly Hills, California. He is also the chair of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons Patient Safety Committee.

He said it’s not uncommon for different patients to react differently to procedures depending on their age and health, but repeated infections and incisions or holes that are slow to heal is a concern.

“Necrosis, thankfully, it's not something that's common in plastic surgery,” said Hadeed. “However, it is something that can happen and there are certain procedures where perhaps it might be a slightly higher risk of developing necrosis."

Hadeed also said post-surgery openings can occur when something is preventing sufficient healing at the skin, which could be an issue with the skin’s surface or something deeper. He said it could be due to a lack of robust blood flow to the area, tension that causes the area to pull apart, or healing issues with the patient.

He said most patients who have these problems respond well to conservative wound care like making sure the wounds don’t dry out and keeping gauze in them until they heal.

“Thankfully they're not very common, but I wouldn't say that they're uncommon,” Hadeed explained. “The majority of patients who have these issues don't need additional surgery or procedures. In some instances, you know some stitches or sutures can be placed to bring the skin edges back together and in the vast majority of cases that's all that's needed. It’s very uncommon for a patient to require additional surgery to address these issues with skin healing.”

Accolades from some former patients

Other patients of Brown’s said he has done great work on them for which they are grateful.

Melissa Whitmire has been going to Brown for years and was one of his first patients when he moved to the area in 2015. She said he removed her implants, including one that had ruptured, gave her a breast lift that turned out “extremely good” and that the procedure went “perfectly.”

So much so that she continued to see him for different procedures for years, for everything from a neck lift, liposuction and fat injections, to laser treatments.

“I had no negative experiences at any of my appointments,” said Whitmire. “I felt like Dr. Brown was extremely attentive. The doctor does the best he can, but surgery isn't foolproof.”

Pat McCallum Farmer was also very pleased with the mommy makeover Brown gave her several years ago, which included breast implants, removing excess skin, and a Brazilian butt lift.

At the time, she had just moved here from Texas and had lost a lot of weight. Farmer said she found Brown online and was impressed by what she read and what she saw in person.

“I've been very, very happy, very happy and I was just, I was taken aback when I saw that (about Hillary Brown) and it's very sad for his family, her family, her children and my heart goes out to everyone involved.”

Ex-employees speak out

Some patient complaints come as no surprise to at least two former employees of Brown’s.

Shannon Gerage is Brown’s former office manager. She worked with him from 2018 to 2022, and said she wore many hats for his business including medical assistant, surgery scheduler, receptionist, and legal and personal assistant.

Gerage said when she first started working for Brown he was “the best,” even performing a successful operation on her son’s eyes due to a birth defect as well as a mommy makeover on her.

As time went on, she said he seemed to have difficulty managing stress and when work problems arose, he sometimes threw “tantrums” or became “paranoid” people were out to get him and he took out his frustrations on the staff.

Issues, she said, that seemed to get worse when he went through a divorce with his first wife about two years ago.

“One minute he was thanking me for being the greatest friend and employee and the next day I was trash,” Gerage explained. “He said we were idiots and losers. Not doing our jobs, stealing from him, because he had to do our jobs. He didn’t pay us, made me cut employee hours so they would quit because he didn’t want anymore disgruntled employees after him.”

Gerage said Brown became so focused on legal and personal issues in the last year or so she worked for him he started getting “sloppy” with patients.

“He didn’t care about patients anymore,” Gerage said. “Patient care was left up to his PA and me. We basically turned into a wound care facility. The PA was constantly treating infections, performing office procedures such as cutting necrotic tissue and suturing wounds back closed. We were constantly monitoring patient calls and texts on our cell phones all hours of the day and night, seven days a week. I’ve witnessed it all and I felt so helpless.”

Close calls

When Gerage heard about Hillary Brown’s death she said she wasn’t surprised because she had witnessed similar close calls. One in particular happened in Brown’s Pensacola office around 2019 stood out to the former employee.

She said Brown was performing a procedure on an elderly woman with his nurse practitioner in the room, when the nurse suddenly came out looking for an oxygen tank.

Gerage said they had to go upstairs to the second floor of the building to get it, because they rarely used the oxygen tank, and bring it back downstairs where the woman was.

“When I walked by I said, ‘What the heck is happening?’” Gerage recalled. “And our nurse practitioner said, ‘We're losing her.’ And then they took her tongue, and they sutured it to her cheek so it wouldn't obstruct her airway.

“And (Brown) started freaking out,” Gerage continued. “I wasn’t office manager at the time, but Dr. Brown yelled at our office manager saying, ‘Do not call the patient's husband. None of this gets out. You don't know anything that just happened. We weren't doing hardly any procedures.’ She was only given certain medications and at that point we just kind of were like, ‘What the hell?’ And we, the whole staff, was just kind of walking back and forth going, ‘Oh my God, oh my God, what are we doing?’ And finally somebody, I'm not sure who it was, called 911, got them there and they transported her off to the hospital.”

Gerage said the woman’s husband arrived to pick her up after she had been transported and they advised him she was in the hospital where Gerage said she recovered.

Gerage said the lack of patient care and turmoil at work eventually took a toll on her home and work life and she quit.

“I would have left sooner, but my co-workers weren’t in a position to quit and I felt I needed to protect them,” Gerage said. “I watched him get out of so many violations and lawsuits, I couldn’t stick around and watch patients and employees suffer anymore.”

Debra Brown Guy, no relation to Dr. Ben Brown, also worked for him for about three and a half weeks in September 2022. Guy said her time with his office was cut short because Brown fired her for writing a letter outlining her concerns about patient safety.

Guy, a surgical technologist, was responsible for keeping a sterile environment for in-office procedures, including cleaning tools and equipment. From her first day, Guy said she was appalled at Brown’s refusal to follow basic safety protocols.

Guy said she was instructed to use a bucket with distilled water to clean bloody instruments or in the employee lounge where they ate. Guy provided a copy of the letter she sent Dr. Brown along with pictures of the “sterile process room,” which looked more like a supply closet with stacks of boxes and other equipment around the room.

Guy said she witnessed Brown repeatedly perform procedures in his office without proper equipment, staff or in a sterile environment. She said one woman even woke up during a face lift Brown was performing on her and asked to use the bathroom, which the doctor allowed her to do even though Guy said it wasn’t safe or sanitary.

When the woman returned to finish the procedure, she began vomiting all over the room from the medications Brown had them administer to sedate her.

“My surgical conscience would not allow me to stay in that environment,” said Guy. “I have always been an advocate for my patients. When I did this there, I was chastised. I became their enemy. When I confronted them and asked for a meeting out of concern, they fired me. I saw and witnessed more than I can ever forget.”

Guy filed a complaint with the Florida Agency for Healthcare Administration but received no response.

She said she also informed North Florida Surgeons (NFS) of her concerns, a specialty surgical group Brown was affiliated with, but Guy said she was told by staff “if they had further questions their attorney would contact” her. She said she did not hear from NFS again.

Calls to the Florida Department of Health and North Florida Surgeons for comment were not returned.

What’s next in the Hillary Brown investigation?

The Santa Rosa Sheriff’s Office and the medical examiner are investigating Hillary Brown’s death but say it could be several months before her cause of death is determined because they are waiting on toxicology reports.

District 1 Medical Examiner Dr. Deanna Oleske said even when she has the results of the young woman’s autopsy, it will be up to the State Attorney’s Office to release them because of the unusual nature of the case.

According to a Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office incident report, Brown called 911 from his Restore Plastic Surgery office in the Tiger Point area of Gulf Breeze around 4:15 p.m., on Nov. 21.

The responding deputy’s call notes stated Hillary Brown was in the process of several surgical procedures when she had several seizures and went into cardiac arrest. The call notes also stated the doctor possibly overmedicated the patient.

Hillary Brown’s father, Marty Ellington, said he and her mother, Dixie, are devastated over the loss of their daughter. He said they have many unanswered questions about what happened when Brown was performing procedures on her in his office, and she went into cardiac arrest.

Hillary Brown was in the hospital a week before she was removed from life support because her brain had gone without oxygen for too long.

“We were in the ICU with Ben for five days,” Ellington said. “Repeatedly asking him what happened. He never told us of any seizures, only that she collapsed and was unresponsive. This was the first we heard of seizures, but if securing her tongue is what he was referring to, that is time wasted he could have used to perform CPR,” Ellington said.

There are no laws against doctors performing procedures on family members in Florida, but the American Medical Association does not recommend it.

“This is something that there is no clear consensus on,” said Dr. Hadeed. “It completely depends on the comfort level of both the surgeon and the family member. Some people would feel comfortable doing it, while others would not. It is something that is not necessarily encouraged, but people do it anyway.”

Brown has also not responded to requests for comment or an interview, but he has hired a public relations firm that released a statement on behalf of his family which reads in part: “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,” Red Banyan wrote on behalf of "the family of Dr. Ben Brown."

“His deep grief and shock is only compounded by many mistruths circulating online and in the media. The procedures Ben performed on the day of Hillary’s passing were minor and routine. All safety and medical protocols were strictly followed, and the procedures took place during office hours with the support of Ben’s medical staff.”

In the meantime, some former patients, want him to stop practicing medicine.

"I definitely feel like Dr. Brown should never practice again," said Joy Edwards. "He should not have a medical license and he should not practice. I'm glad to hear that they're going to be investigating the circumstances of his wife's death. I feel that there needs to be a thorough investigation and I feel like he needs to go to trial for it."

Jane Hawkins has hired legal counsel to look into her case. She said the injuries and drastic changes to her body have dramatically changed her life. She and her husband remain friends but are splitting up after years together because it has taken an emotional and physical toll on their marriage.

Hawkins also filed a report with the Santa Rosa Sheriff's Office against Brown alleging assault for the procedure he performed on her without consent.

The Sheriff’s Office did not purse the complaint, Hawkins said, because deputies told her it was a matter for the Florida Department of Health and the Florida Board of Medicine, which investigate complaints against physicians.

“Here's what I want to happen,” said Hawkins. “I don't want him to hurt anyone else, right? Whether or not I ever see financial reimbursement from this, that man has to be stopped.”

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Plastic surgeon Ben Brown patients allege horror stories