The type of seizure that three eye witnesses testified Hillary Brown suffered while undergoing plastic surgery at the hands of her husband, Gulf Breeze plastic surgeon Dr. Ben Brown, would be so severe as to require immediate emergency care.
That was testimony provided Sept. 17 by Dr. Richard Cashio, an expert witness produced by attorneys for the Florida Department of Health at an administrative hearing that will have a strong bearing on whether Brown is allowed to continue practicing medicine.
Asked by attorney Sarah Corrigan what his reaction would be to seeing a patient convulsing with arms shaking, legs swinging and eyes rolled back in her head, Cashio responded “a seizure like that is a medical emergency.”
“I would call a code,” he said. “The seizure described, in general parlance, we know as a grand mal seizure. That would necessitate calling emergency services. For a person that doesn’t have a history the case would have dictated calling 911.”
Three witnesses who were employed by Ben and Hillary Brown at Restore Plastic Surgery in Gulf Breeze testified Sept. 16 to witnessing Hillary Brown lose consciousness and experience as many as three violent seizures. Each testified that Ben Brown ordered them not to call 911 and waited for as long as five to 10 minutes before relenting and letting them do so.
Hillary Brown never regained consciousness after paramedics arrived and died about a week later.
Asked whether a medical professional would be wise to take “a wait and see approach” before calling 911 when witnessing a violent seizure, Cashio said only possibly in a case of someone with a history of suffering such seizures or with epilepsy, but in few other instances.
“It depends upon the amount of time you wait, a few seconds might be OK,” he said. “A few minutes is not within a reasonable standard of care.”
The Florida Department of Health, which placed emergency restrictions on Brown in May of 2024, has petitioned the state’s Division of Administrative Hearings to recommend he face further sanctions that could include the permanent revocation or a suspension of his license.
Brown could also face further restrictions on his practice, administrative fines, or probation.
The Department of Health claims that in part due to his failure to immediately respond to a medical emergency he had violated several state statutes and exhibited behavior that falls below the minimum standard of medical care.
Brown took the witness stand in his own defense. He testified that his wife had experienced “syncopal episodes” on about five occasions in the past and that he was certain when she “became unresponsive” while he was performing surgery on her that she had done so again.
Unlike the witnesses from the day before Brown expressed confidence that he was very aware of the time that he had begun prepping his wife for facial surgery and what time the 911 call was made on the day of the collapse.
He testified 13 minutes transpired from the time he began numbing areas of her body for treatment and the time the emergency call was made and said there was “no way” the amount of time his former employees say transpired could be accurate.
“I believe I did everything I could have done and should have done,” Brown told his attorney Bruce Lamb. “I don’t call 911 every time a patient faints, but, obviously (in this case) I wish I would have.”
Brown would later tear up as he completed his testimony.
“I don’t know,” he told the court when asked what might have caused his wife’s death. “I wish I did. I don’t know if she had an underlying seizure disorder or a heart issue. I don’t know what else I could have done.”
The administrative hearing could be concluded Sept. 18 with final testimony from a witness on Brown’s behalf. Lawyers from both sides of the case could make a closing statement in the case, though that will be left for the judge overseeing the case, Yolonda Green, to decide.
Once finished the Department of Health and Brown’s attorney will submit recommendations for possible action to Green, who will submit her own recommendation to the Florida Board of Medicine, which will ultimately decide what sanctions, if any, it will place.
In addition to the threat to his license, Brown also faces a charge of manslaughter by culpable negligence in Santa Rosa County and a civil suit filed by one of several individuals who have come out since Hillary Brown’s death to share details of alleged botched surgeries and negligent medical treatment provided by Brown at Restore Plastic Surgery
Lamb called Brown to the stand first and then a expert witness who testified that, based on his analysis, Hillary Brown could not have died due to an overdose to lidocaine. Though that cause of death was not brought out in Health Department documents ahead of the Administrative hearing, the Medical Examiner’s Office for the First Judicial Circuit of Florida found Hillary Brown died due to “complications following lidocaine toxicity.”
Dr. Christopher Borgert, an expert witness and consultant in the field of pharmacology and toxicology testified “lidocaine did not achieve the levels in patient H.B. (Hillary Brown) that would be toxie enough to produce harm. It played no role in her death.”
Deputies who investigated the criminal case said their investigation also found Hillary had medical trouble previously when Brown performed a procedure on her.
“Brown showed a history of allowing unsafe practices to occur and took no precautions for the well being of human life, even after an incident where he could not wake the victim during a procedure in January of 2023,” the report reads.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: ‘A seizure like that is a medical emergency; experts weigh in on death of Hillary Brown
Reporting by Tom McLaughlin, Pensacola News Journal / Pensacola News Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
