Miami surgery center lists 8 doctors. Liposuction patients of 3 died from 2020-22
One New Life Plastic Surgery doctor faces a lawsuit that blames him for the December death of a liposuction patient. Another New Life doctor just got accused in a Florida Department of Health complaint of pre-signing opioid prescriptions that lack patient names.
And, two other doctors claimed by the West Miami-Dade plastic surgery business have been fined by the state after deaths of Brazilian butt lift patients in 2020 and 2022. A Brazilian butt lift, commonly called “BBL,” is a type of liposuction surgery.
Naveed Nosrati, Julio Clavijo-Alvarez, Stephanie Stover and Oliver Simmons are four of the eight surgeons listed on New Life’s website.
A phone message left by the Miami Herald for New Life president Daniel Gonzalez and vice president Raynier Lara have not been returned.
Doctors with deaths
Stover’s name and profile remain though she’s the medical doctor not listed on New Life’s license and she’s moved her official license address to another cosmetic surgery center.
After the Sept. 15, 2020 death of a breast augmentation-liposuction-BBL patient at Xiluet Plastic Surgery, Stover got fined $5,000 by the state Board of Medicine and put on a one-year probation that ended last November. As Stover was coming off probation, Simmons was going through the discipline process that would end with him being fined $10,000 after the April 2022 death of BBL patient Tanisha Walker.
As far as the American Board of Plastic Surgery, Stover and Simmons each remain “Certified: On Probation.”
Nosrati’s ABPS board certification, gained Nov. 15, 2020, carries no such designation. His certification subspecialty, gained in August 2021, is in hand surgery. According to the Florida Department of Health, Nosrati has been licensed in the state since June 3, 2021.
A lawsuit filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court says Melencia Green died of a pulmonary embolism on Dec. 17, 2022, three days after liposuction and abdominoplasty at New Life. BBL death investigations, including that of Simmons’ patient Walker, often finger pulmonary embolism as the cause of death and the cause of the pulmonary embolism being fat injected into muscle, which is a violation of Florida statutes.
The lawsuit filed by Green’s widower doesn’t allege Nosrati injected fat improperly but does allege improper post-operative care.
The lawsuit answer filed for Nosrati and New Life by Tullio Iacono blamed Green’s death on “a pre-existing and/or congenital and/or hereditary condition which is not the responsibility of [Nosrati]...”
Nosrati’s license shows no state action filed yet.
Pads, prescriptions and pills
Two state complaints have been filed against Clavijo-Alvarez. The one concerning New Life, from Aug. 28, says when an inspector came to 8400 SW Eighth St. on May 27, 2022, “The inspection found one or more prescriptions for oxycodone and/or diazepam that were pre-signed by [Clavijo-Alvarez], without any patient identifying information or date, located in an unsecured area of New Life.”
Clavijo-Alvarez already had one complaint pending against him, from his time as designated physician for Jireh Cosmetic Center aka Miami Lakes Cosmetic Surgery. The designated physician makes sure the facility complies with state statues and law. When an inspector says the facility fails to do so, administrative complaints get filed against the surgery center’s license and the designated physician’s license.
Jireh, each complaint says, performed illegal surgeries by removing more fat than allowed; didn’t get written consent from patients affirming knowledge of risks in the procedure or anesthesia; didn’t tell patients in writing the hospital at which the surgeon had staff privileges or Jireh had a transfer agreement (in case something goes very wrong); and had an unqualified nurse monitoring patients under anesthesia.
