Indicted Orlando doctor wanted to work in Miami. That was after the butt surgery death.

Dr. Christopher Walker of Orlando used “reckless technique” in damaging organs that led to a woman’s death during Brazilian butt-lift surgery in January, according to the Florida Department of Health.

And Dr. Earl Brewster, listed in court documents as the owner of Coral Gables’ 305 Plastic Surgery Clinic, said Walker hid that tragedy from the clinic when it agreed to hire him in February for weekend work.

Brewster said Walker told him about the January death on March 29, but hadn’t started work yet at 305 Plastic Surgery.

“No one who has a restriction against their license will be allowed in our OR,” Brewster said Thursday. “He never saw a patient, he never scrubbed next to me. I’m fully supportive of the Florida Board of Medicine.”

The Board of Medicine is Walker’s next stop professionally, after March’s emergency restriction order (ERO) from Florida Surgeon General Scott Rivkees and administrative complaint from the Department of Health. On another path, a criminal case with fraud and witness-tampering charges filed against Walker in December 2019 continues plodding through federal court in Brooklyn.

On Jan. 15 of this year, Walker was out on bond and working at Beja Body Med Spa, an Orlando medical facility that state corporation records say Walker started in 2017. A 38-year-old woman the medical discipline documents call “U.O.” came in for a Brazilian butt lift.

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Mishandling a tube?

Walker’s page on the Beja Body website, which notes that he’s known as “Dr. Downtown,” also says, “Following his passion in the appreciation of art and beauty, Dr. Walker completed his training as a cosmetic surgeon in 2008 and became an Associate of the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgeons.”

But the administrative complaint says Walker listed no such training or education to the Department of Health on March 9. Also, while he’s board certified in obstetrics and gynecology, female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery, the complaint says he’s not board certified in cosmetic surgery or plastic surgery.

“[Walker] did not have the adequate education, training, and/or experience to perform liposuctions,” the complaint said.

That’s why U.O. was at Beja Body. A Brazilian butt-lift surgery is just liposuction where fat is sucked from the abdomen and back through a tube called a “cannula,” then inserted into the buttocks.

“It is a violation of the minimum standard of care to repeatedly contact, or damage, a patient’s intraabdominal organs with the cannula,” the complaint said.

But during the surgery that started at 2 p.m., the complaint said, “[Walker] repeatedly crossed through Patient U.O.’s abdominal muscles and punctured multiple organs and arteries.

“Patient U.O. experienced significant internal bleeding, several sources of arterial and venous bleeding, and multiple organ injuries including penetrating abdominal wounds, liver and pancreas lacerations, and injuries to the stomach and/or colon.”

She died at 10:55 p.m.

“[Walker] knew or had reason to know that he was not competent to perform liposuction due to his lack of education, training, and/or experience,” the complaint states.

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Meshing implants, surgery and fraud?

Walker’s training and experience is in gynecology and federal prosecutors say he used his powers for fraud from June 2013 through March 2016.

Problems with transvaginal mesh (TVM) implants, implants used to help with support of organs in the area or involuntary urination by stress (coughs, sneezes, etc.), brought an FDA ban in 2019. Before that, however, came lawsuits against manufacturers. According to the indictment of Walker, the companies entered into settlement agreements that paid women who had their TVMs removed more than those who had not.

The indictment says Walker and Wesley Blake Barber came up with a scheme: They found women who might need to undergo TVM removal surgery and enticed them into it as a way of sucking money from them. They fraudulently implied that they would need to use certain doctors (such as Walker) for the surgery, instead of their own and lied to the women about the ability of their health insurance to cover the surgeries.

“Certain agreement entered into by the victims included provisions in which the women agreed to repay the costs of the removal surgery plus interest, which accrued at exorbitant rates, if the women ultimately received a settlement or favorable judgment against the mesh manufacturer,” the indictment claims. “In certain funding arrangements, the victims were responsible for the medical bills associated with the removal surgeries even if they did not receive a settlement.”

Walker was charged with three counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, one count of travel act conspiracy, one count of travel act violation and one count of witness tampering.

Walker has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Asking to come to the 305

Walker’s terms of pretrial release limited him to home and office with an 8 p.m. curfew. On Feb. 26, Walker’s attorneys filed a request that he be allowed to leave the Orlando area on the weekends for work at 305 Plastic Surgery Center. The filing said Walker would start there March 5 if the court approved and Brewster was aware of Walker’s criminal court situation.

Brewster said he needed another cosmetic surgeon and Walker applied for the job.

“He kept all of the information quiet that he had a death,” Brewster said. “I introduced him to the 305 team. They did offer him a position.”

The ERO, with a description of the January tragic surgery, was dated as posting to Walker’s Department of Health profile on March 16. Brewster said Walker called him on March 29, the Monday that the administrative complaint would have posted to the site, to tell him about the death.

Fraud accusations one thing but a possible death inquiry another, Brewster said Walker was jettisoned before he saw a 305 Plastic Surgery patient.

Neither Walker nor his attorney returned emails from the Miami Herald seeking comment.

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