Who is Dr. Ben Brown, the Gulf Breeze doctor who performed fatal surgery on Hillary Brown?

The Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office is investigating the death of Hillary Ellington Brown, 33, who went into cardiac arrest during an after-hours surgery performed by her husband, Dr. Ben Brown of Restore Plastic Surgery.

Ben Brown, 40, is a board-certified plastic surgeon who owns Restore Plastic Surgery in Gulf Breeze. Ben Brown moved to Pensacola in 2015, where he reportedly worked as a plastic surgeon at Gulf Coast Plastic Surgery before opening his own practice in 2017.

Here's what to know about Ben Brown.

Ben Brown performed multiple plastic surgery procedures on Hillary Brown before she died

Ben Brown was performing the surgery at his office in Gulf Breeze when Hillary Ellington Brown went into cardiac arrest on Nov. 21, according to her family. The Santa Rosa Sheriff's Office says Brown performed multiple procedures before Hillary began to have multiple seizures and went into cardiac arrest.

She was taken off life support a week later on Nov. 28 after doctors told her family that she had gone without oxygen to her brain for too long.

Hillary Brown death: Hillary Brown death sparks investigation at Restore Plastic Surgery. What we know

The Sheriff's Office announced that it was launching a death investigation in conjunction with the District One Medical Examiner's Office.

Sheriff's investigators frequently conduct death investigations when a death is unexpected or occurs under unusual circumstances, according to the Sheriff's Office.

No other information regarding the investigation and the cause of death is available pending the receipt of the autopsy protocol from the District One Medical Examiner's Office. According to the Sheriff's Office, the autopsy protocol typically takes several months.

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Ben and Hillary married in 2022

According to a video still on the Restore Plastic Surgery website, Ben Brown moved to Pensacola with his then-wife, Stephanie Brown, in 2015. Court records show that Stephanie Brown filed for divorce in Santa Rosa County on April 5, 2021.

According to Ben Brown's Facebook account, he and Hillary began dating on July 5, 2021. The two married less than a year later, on June 4, 2022.

Ben Brown has one open malpractice case against him

Hillary Brown death: Death of Gulf Breeze doctor’s wife following after-hours surgery leads to investigation

Restore Plastic Surgery has two malpractice lawsuits open against it, though only one lists Ben Brown as a defendant. In that case, plaintiffs Wendy and William Carden allege that Brown used "foreign materials" in a post-mastectomy reconstructive breast surgery without Wendy's consent in 2018, causing infection and sepsis at the surgery site.

The suit also accuses Brown of "negligently failing to periodically monitor the position of the upper extremities," claiming that Wendy Carden suffered nerve damage and other permanent injury due to the extension and position of her arms during the prolonged surgery.

The case is still ongoing in Escambia County Circuit Court.

Ben Brown's qualifications

Brown has attended three universities, according to his Facebook profile. He attended the University of Minnesota between 2001-2003 but did not receive a degree. Brown attended Tulane University between 2003 and 2005, receiving a Bachelor's Degree. He then attended medical school at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center between 2005 and 2009, earning his medical degree.

Brown specialized in plastic surgery during his residency at Georgetown University between 2009 and 2015, according to his practitioner profile on the Florida Department of Health website.

On his LinkedIn profile, Ben Brown said he worked as a resident physician in plastic and reconstructive surgery at MedStar Health between 2009 and 2015. When he moved to Pensacola in 2015, Brown worked as a plastic surgeon at Gulf Coast Plastic Surgery. He then opened Restore Plastic Surgery in Gulf Breeze in 2017.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Who is Dr. Ben Brown of Restore Plastic Surgery in Gulf Breeze?