Portsmouth plastic surgeon faces two patient lawsuits after brief license suspension

PORTSMOUTH — A Portsmouth plastic surgeon and his firm are facing two lawsuits from past patients, both accusing him and his business of medical negligence after cosmetic procedures allegedly gone awry.

Dr. Lawrence Gray and the company he founded in 1985, Atlantic Plastic Surgery & Medi-Spa, are named as co-defendants in two medical malpractice lawsuits filed in Rockingham Superior Court on Sept. 19. In late July, the New Hampshire Board of Medicine suspended Gray’s license after receiving two complaints against him, though the board reinstated his license following a Concord hearing that the doctor testified at in early August.

The plaintiffs in both suits are married couples: Kristen and Paul Williams of Haverhill, Massachusetts, and Savanna and Michael Thompson of Alfred, Maine. The Williams’ lawsuit alleges Kristen Williams received a breast lift from Gray in May, while the second lawsuit alleges Savanna Thompson received an initial breast augmentation surgery from Gray in October 2020.

Both sets of plaintiffs seek a jury trial and accuse Gray and his business of the same four counts: medical negligence by Gray, vicarious liability and medical negligence by Atlantic, and the husbands’ claims of loss of consortium due to both defendants.

Gray could not be reached at his office on Thursday.

Previous story: Portsmouth plastic surgeon's suspension lifted

The lawsuits were filed by the Manchester medical malpractice and personal injury law firm Abramson, Brown and Dugan Attorneys. The suits both begin with the same message: “Just because you can do something does not mean that you should.”

“She is now anxious and insecure about her appearance and has lost confidence in herself and the medical profession,” both lawsuits state about the respective patients.

The lawsuits were filed by the plaintiffs’ attorneys, Mark Abramson, Nicholas Abramson, Kevin Dugan and Holly Haines.

Gray’s emergency license suspension came after investigators with the state Office of Professional Licensure and Certification found the surgeon had recently performed wrong site surgery, conducted procedures with "shaking" hands and had "at least" 15-20 patients who needed corrective surgery, among other details. At the Concord hearing, Gray told the Board of Medicine he had an essential tremor in his hands.

What does the Williams' lawsuit allege?

Kristen Williams, 47, allegedly sought a “Mommy Makeover” procedure from Gray with a breast lift and tummy tuck, according to the lawsuit.

“Dr. Gray’s failures to do appropriate counseling and pre-operative planning for Kristen Williams’ procedures resulted in her wounds predictably becoming infected and failing to heal, requiring extensive corrective treatment,” the lawsuit states. “Since her surgery with Dr. Gray, Kristen Williams has undergone four painful debridements and two split thickness skin graft procedures on her breasts, she required a wound vac over the wounds on her breasts and she has been left with permanent nerve pain, requiring medication. She will require additional procedures in the future to address the scarring and disfigurement that remains.”

The woman’s first consultation with Gray was in April, then the procedure occurred at the end of May. Williams allegedly observed his shaky hands and began experiencing pain under her breasts at the incision sites two days post-surgery.

She allegedly continued experiencing pain and later bled from her breasts, going to the Lawrence General Hospital at one point and called Gray “because the pain was so bad it was keeping her up at night,” per the lawsuit.

The Williams’ lawsuit adds that Holy Family Wound Care Center found Kristen Williams’ right breast to have a full thickness wound about the size of a smartphone and left breast full thickness wound about the size of an egg. Both breasts also had dead tissue in them.

“This ordeal involving five major breast surgeries, including the split thickness skin grafting procedure, as well as multiple other painful wound care interventions, has significantly impacted Ms. Williams’ self-esteem, self-worth, and personal relationships with her husband and family,” the lawsuit reads.

Williams will need future procedures “to reduce the size of her scarring,” the lawsuit adds.

“By the end of July 2023, Ms. Williams’ wounds had healed, but she was left with numbness in her nipples and tingling, shooting, nerve pain in her breasts. She has been prescribed Gabapentin for nerve pain,” the suit says.

What does the Thompson's lawsuit allege?

Savanna Thompson, 35, first consulted with Gray in August 2020 about improving the appearance of her breasts and abdomen after giving birth to three children via C-section, the Thompson's lawsuit notes.

The doctor is accused of recommending bilateral breast augmentation, a breast lift and a mini abdominoplasty without showing the patient the impact the augmentation procedure would have on her.

“Dr. Gray’s ‘bigger is better’ approach to breast augmentation, and ‘one size fits all’ approach to total submuscular implant placement for augmentation and ‘lollipop lift’ for mastopexy, resulted in Savanna Thompson receiving breasts far too large for her frame, and his failure to perform diastasis repair during abdominoplasty resulted in worst post-operative abdominal deformity than she began with,” the lawsuit states. “Savanna Thompson has since undergone four additional revision procedures and anticipates at least one more surgery to revise the scarring that remains.”

Thompson was allegedly apprehensive about the surgery but agreed to it, and the procedure was conducted in October 2020. The lawsuit says that Thompson also observed Gray’s tremor and claims he did not mark her breasts or abdomen before the operation occurred.

Following the procedure, according to the lawsuit, Thompson was left with ‘jagged scarring on her abdomen’ that was visible in a two-piece bathing suit. She also allegedly had a concave depression in her left breast, and her implants were much higher than expected, allegedly causing her breasts to sink into her armpits when lying down.

Allegedly at no cost, Gray performed a corrective surgery in March 2021. The lawsuit claims it left Thompson with a “golf ball-sized deformity protruding from her upper abdomen. Her belly button was reconstructed but placed on the right side of her abdomen, rather than the middle where it belonged.” Gray then allegedly closed Thompson’s breasts with Steri-Strips, which she is allergic to, causing her to allegedly have an allergic reaction.

“She was still left with additional skin and a waterfall deformity in her breasts, as well as a disfigured abdomen and belly button,” the lawsuit continues.

Thompson was later referred to Gray’s new associate, Dr. Alexander Slocum, in the fall of 2021. In November of that year, Slocum performed revision surgeries on Thompson.

“Dr. Slocum has significantly improved Ms. Thompson’s cosmetic results, but she still anticipates future procedures to reduce the size of her umbilical scar and the nipple-areolar complex scarring,” the lawsuit says.

“What should have been a cosmetic improvement to her appearance to help her get her body back after childbirth has turned into a medical nightmare due to Dr. Gray’s poor planning, shortcuts to procedures, and operating on patients with an essential tremor,” the lawsuit says of Thompson.

Could more lawsuits against Gray be coming?

Attorney Holly Haines told Seacoast Media Group that the firm expects to file more lawsuits against Gray and his company in the near future on behalf of former patients.

“For the past several years, at least, Dr. Gray has also been performing elective cosmetic surgeries on women knowing his surgical skills were compromised by involuntary hand movements and shaking, yet he did not disclose that to his patients,” she said. “Our investigation leads us to believe he not only withheld this information, but he took actions to conceal his shaking at times by not marking women before their surgeries until after they were lying on the operating table, which further increased their risk of harm because their surgeries could not be adequately or properly performed without anatomical landmarks and surgical sites being marked before going into the operating room.”

The doctor was represented by attorney Bradley Holt at his hearing before the Board of Medicine this summer. It was unclear whether Holt had been retained as Gray’s counsel.

Holt did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Portsmouth NH plastic surgeon sued following brief license suspension