A Miami doctor’s planned punishment after a BBL patient’s death got increased — slightly
The State of Florida Board of Medicine rejected the agreed upon punishment for Dr. Oliver Simmons in the 2022 death of Brazilian butt lift patient Tanisha Walker before giving the OK to harsher consequences — slightly harsher.
What’s in the board’s final order, which was finished March 1 and posted March 6, still boils down to a fine and a one-hour speech when it concerns Simmons’ time and money.
READ MORE: A fine and a speech for a Miami doctor after a Brazilian butt lift patient’s death?
The original Settlement Agreement reached between the Florida Department of Health and Simmons’ representatives and presented to the board on Feb. 3 included a letter of concern; a $10,000 fine; reimbursement of investigative costs between $7,588.76 and $9.588.76; requirement that Simmons give a one-hour lecture/seminar on safety and possible complications of BBL surgeries to the staff at an approved medical facility; and Simmons must use ultrasound guidance during his BBLs for at least six months after the final order.
That Williams death would cost Smith merely a fine and a speech made it into the local South Florida media and soon ricocheted around the internet before the board’s Feb. 3 meeting. Whether or not that played into the Board of Medicine’s actions, the body slapped down the Settlement Agreement and offered a Counter Settlement Agreement, which Simmons accepted.
Instead of a letter of concern, the board officially reprimanded Simmons. —The investigative cost reimbursement was set at the maximum, $9,588.76. Everything else in the agreement remains the same. Simmons remains on staff at New Life Plastic Surgery, 8400 SW Eighth St.
Simmons’ board certification by the American Board of Plastic Surgery is on probation. His board certification by the American Board of Otolalyngology isn’t affected.
Tanisha Walker’s last surgery
The testimony for the Department of Health by Miami by board-certified plastic surgeon Dr. Pat Pazmiño noted that Walker first tried to have breast reduction surgery at Weston’s Bright Plastic Surgery. But after an April 18, 2022 evaluation, Dr. Paul Goldberg refused to do it because he found Walker’s body mass index and medication list too high, history of high blood pressure too long and she was pre-diabetic.
Pazmiño wrote that Goldberg “noted that ‘she was not a candidate for office surgery, but maybe she would be a candidate for surgery in a hospital.’”
New Life is not a hospital, but that’s where Simmons approved Walker for the form of liposuction known as a “Brazilian butt lift” on April 20, 2022. During the operation, the Department of Health says Simmons injected fat into Williams gluteal muscles in violation of Florida statutes. That, the department charged, led to Williams death by what Miami-Dade Chief Medical Examiner Kenneth D. Hutchins determined was pulmonary embolism.
She was 47.
READ MORE: Here’s how to check out your plastic surgery or Brazilian butt lift doctor in Florida
