9 Shocking Claims Against 'Killer' Surgeon in Wife's Grisly Death

The trial date has been set for the. plastic surgeon accused of being. responsible for his wife's botch. surgery. We're talking a manslaughter. charge. We're going to dig into the. latest court developments and arguments. as well as past allegations of. wrongdoing to see if this is all going. to play a role in his criminal trial. And bottom line, we're trying to find. out what exactly may have really been. going on at this practice. Welcome to. Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm. Jesse Weber. [Music]. Let's talk about former Gulf Breeze,

Florida plastic surgeon Ben Brown. Now, we covered him on a previous episode of. Sidebar. I believe it was last year, but. he is once again back in the news, and. he's back in the news because his. manslaughter trial date has been set. Circuit Court Judge Clifton Drake out of. Santa Rosa County has set it for May. 4th. Now, he is charged with. manslaughter by culpable negligence. That is a secondderee felony. our. understanding that can carry significant. prison time. And it's basically saying.

that a defendant killed someone through. reckless disregard for human life or. recklessly disregarding the inherent. dangers of some sort of activity. It's. like showing an indifference. So what. exactly is he accused of doing? Well, essentially that he's responsible for. the November 28th, 2023 death of his. wife, 33-year-old Hillary Ellington. Brown. Now, he wasn't arrested until. June 17th, 2024. So, you have this. investigation that lasted some time with. authorities ultimately concluding that.

Hillary died after Brown operated on her. at his restore plastic surgery practice, that he performed cosmetic procedures on. her like scar revision, arm lipos. suction, injections to her lip and face. This happened on November 21st and she. was on life support and she died. Now, the big problem is, according to an. order restricting Brown's medical. license by the Florida Department of. Health, and by the way, also according. to a probable cause affidavit, which. we'll get into, Brown was allegedly not.

properly registered for this procedure. and his wife Hillary, the victim, allegedly participated in her own. operation, that he didn't have proper. life-saving equipment on hand, that he. waited to call 911, that he didn't. initiate CPR in time, that he really did. not follow the proper medical protocols. when doing all this, particularly when. administering sedatives. Now, according. to the health department report that. assessed the situation involving Brown, this reported graduate from Georgetown.

University's Department of Plastic. Surgery, we are talking a lot of alleged. problems here. Now, to be clear, what. I'm about to get into, it is separate. from the criminal case. But you have to. see, you have to wonder, is there going. to be overlap, particularly since it was. reported that several women who worked. at the medical clinic on the day that. Hillary went into cardiac arrest. provided testimony? In fact, we'll get. into that. But this restriction of. license report says, quote, "Any office. where the doctor performs level two or. level three procedures must be.

registered with the Department of Health. and submit to annual inspections. Dr. Brown only performs level one office. surgeries at Restore Plastic Surgery and. is therefore not registered or inspected. by the department." In or around 2021, a. medical assistant that worked at Restore. Plastic Surgery observed that Dr. Brown's practice began to decline. The. medical assistant observed that Dr. Brown began delegating more and more to. his physician assistant, Shawn Kirby, and his unlicensed wife, who the report.

refers to as HR, again, the deceased in. this case. HR was not a licensed healthc. care practitioner, was not qualified to. practice medicine, including performing. cosmetic procedures, and it was and was. not legally permitted to perform. cosmetic procedures at Restore Plastic. Surgery. And what is the proof of that? What is the potential proof at trial? We. found that the surgery c center's. Facebook page had at one point had these. photos of Hillary seemingly wearing. scrubs or nursing garb appearing to help. out with procedures again despite the.

fact that she was seemingly unlicensed. Now I want to get into a little bit more. this incident involving Hillary. Okay. HR was scheduled to undergo a miniature. muscle plecation, abdominal scar. revision, bilateral arm lipos suction, lip injections, and ear adjustment. procedures. And the report states that. the morning of the procedure, Hillary. prepared her own IV bags that she quote. ingested a handful of multicolored pills. which included Valium. After consuming. this medication, HR began to exhibit.

effects of sedation. And despite this, the report states that Hillary then went. into another patient's room and removed. their stitches. The document then. details the steps that Dr. Brown took to. administer medication to Hillary for the. procedure. But remember, she prepared. her own IV bags according to this and. hadn't documented exactly what she. prepared. So Brown seemingly can't be. really sure how much of each sedative. he's giving her. Right? That seems to be. the narrative here. Now, we do know that.

Hillary was awake because the report. states HR assisted in her own procedure. by suturing the skin back together. During this portion of the procedure, HR. became restless and her feet began. twitching. Dr. Brown then performed. lipos suction of HR's arms and her. twitching worsened. Dr. Brown documented. that he injected a more concentrated. solution of lidocaine into HR's face and. lips, but witnesses observed Dr. Brown. inject undiluted xylocaine into HR's.

face. And the report states multiple. times that Brown didn't properly. document the medicines and dosages he. was giving to his wife. HR stated that. her vision started to blur. Quote, "And. she told Dr. Brown that she saw orange. restlessness, muscle twitches, and. blurred vision are all early signs of. lidocaine toxicity. Dr. Brown continued. injecting lidocaine into HR's face. During the procedure, HR became. unresponsive and began to have a. seizure. A medical assistant asked Dr.

Brown if they should call 911, and Dr. Brown said no. Over the next 10 to 20. minutes, a medical assistant asked Dr. Brown if they should call 911, and Dr. Brown said no or wait. The medical. assistant was scared and a new employee, so she did as Dr. Brown instructed. By. the way, if you're a fan of what we do. here at Cyborg, if you're a fan of what. we do here at Long Crime, then you know. we put out so many clips a day and we. put it out really, really fast. And if. you're in the content creation game, if. you're trying to put more stuff out in. social media, let me tell you, we use a.

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your own videos today. Now assistants. reportedly ran around the office looking. for items as basic as oxygen tanks or. even a stethoscope. Said they didn't. know where to find them. And Brown. apparently started CPR and finally the. medical assistant, not Brown, was the. one who called 911. Hillary was rushed. to the hospital, never regained. consciousness, and died on November. 28th. Now, the health department report. concludes an independent medical expert. has determined that Dr. Brown's. treatment of HR was a violation of the.

standard of care. Dr. Brown's continued. unrestricted practice as a medical. doctor presents an immediate serious. danger to the health, welfare, and. safety of the public. And the department. ordered that Benjamin Brown's medical. license be immediately restricted in. Florida. That was back at the beginning. of May. And on May 15th, the Santa Rosa. County Medical Examiner ruled Hillary's. official cause of death as quote. complications following lidocaine. toxicity. And then in June, Brown was. arrested. Now, just to add a little bit. more context to this, what I'm about to.

read you is from a probable cause. affidavit that was filed in this case. And it reads, "Your Athenian spoke to. one of the employees via recorded phone. interview. She expressed there was a lot. of negligence in the office that led to. Hillary's cardiac arrest. She stated. prior to the surgery, the victim took a. quote plethora of pills. However, she. was unaware of what they were. She. stated the victim had prepared her own. IV bags, which were supposed to contain. diluted lidocaine, xylocaine, which was. being used as a local anesthetic. During. the surgery, the IV bags ran out, at.

which time Brown poured quote two. containers into a bowl. He didn't dilute. them or anything and began to inject her. arms and later her face. When he did. this, Hillary began to say that her. vision was blurry. She said her face was. really puffy, but Brown continued. She. stated she thought that was a sign she. was overdosing, and this was when she. began convulsing. This was at the point. the victim was suffering a medical. emergency. This employee stated Brown. was asked if they should call 911. several times, but he wanted to try and.

do it himself. That's a quote. She said, asked four or five times by several. staff members, but he continued to tell. them, "Wait." She stated there was not. oxygen in the room, no EKG to monitor. her heart. She said there was nothing. they could have done and 911 should have. been called. And then there's this. Your. affient later learned this was not the. first incident where Brown had. overmedicated the victim for surgery and. had difficulty waking her up. During an. interview with a former employee, your. was told that one day she was witnessed.

to a procedure where the victim was. receiving a brow lift. She was. instructed to give the victim vers. She. believed it was four milligrams. This. would have been the typical dose. she. was still awake. Then Brown and the. victim both advised to give her the. victim more, which she did. She stated. she may have given a third dose, but she. wasn't completely sure. After this, she. was out of the room and then could hear. Brown yelling the victim's name in an. attempt to wake her up. This was not. normal, which concerned her, and she. responded to the room. She and another.

tech shared a concerned look, but was. told it was okay by Brown, so she left. the room. However, after walking out of. the room, it occurred again during the. same procedure. This time, Brown had. more urgency in his voice as he was. having difficulties waking her up. This. tech further added that in another. surgical environment which she had. worked in, she had never seen someone. having difficulties in being woken up. like that day. Now, okay, so let me. bring in Alexis Rosenberg, trial. attorney, federal litigator. Uh, it's. great to see you. Thanks so much for. taking the time. So, this trial date has.

been set for May. That's the big news. Obviously, it could change. What are you. going to be looking out for at this. trial? >> Well, first of all, there's a lot to. unpack here. I mean, we have a mother. We have the husband that is on trial for. her death. We have, I believe, small. children that they had. Uh we have the. board, you know, coming after him as. well. So, what here's the thing. negligence itself by itself, regular old.

negligence, that's not criminal. There's. not a criminal um act for that. So, what. we're talking about here in Florida is. what they have culpable negligence. Some. states refer to it as manslaughter. So, it is a flagrant disregard for human. safety or life. And so, what you're. going to look at is did his actions in. this criminal case rise to that level? Now, the the standard for the licensing. board, which by the way, they have not.

officially uh revoked his license. So, there's going to be a a you know, a. proceeding about that administrative. hearing. Now, the likelihood is they're. going to because I definitely think at. the board, licensing board level, this. the standards been met because there. were other issues that had happened. There was already a complaint against. him, by the way, before this happened. and that complaint was amended to. include this. So, they're going to have. to show the state attorneys that this.

was just beyond simple negligence. And. going through each of the things that. you talked about in the intro, each one, that it wasn't just simply this one mess. up. It was this continual disregard. And the fact that he didn't call 911. when people were saying, "We need to. call 911." The standard the standard for. three I believe it was three different. in incidents along the line was she. needed to be taken to the emergency room.

at that point. Nobody should have been. kept in that in office visit at that. point based on the fact she was seizing. and so forth and so on. >> That's why previous allegations or even. a previous incident with her. foreseeability. Could you see the. inherent risk of what was happening? were you on awareness of this and. disregarded it? That would be a key. consideration. Now, Alexis, one other. thing that's going on here is Brown's. attorney, so Mara, asked the court to.

allow Brown to sit in on depositions of. some of the prosecution's witnesses. Now, this is something that the. prosecution objected to, but it seems. the defense believes that because of his. medical background, his training, his. experience, he can maybe assist in. questioning these witnesses during the. depositions. A is that a strange thing? Do you really see that? I mean, the. motion says there are several. depositions, including the medical. examiner, Dr. Deanna Olesque, and the. treating physicians at the hospital, during which certain medical facts and.

certain opinions regarding the cause of. death and related issues to this case. will be discussed. Is it standard for a. defendant to be part of these. depositions? Not going to be asking. questions directly to the witnesses, but. you know, speaking to his attorney, maybe writing down potential qu. questions. Is that standard? Is that. something the court will allow? >> They they'll generally the defendant. would be allowed to be present at. depositions. The issue is whether. they're going to allow him to ask the.

questions since he is represented by. counsel because. >> yeah like maybe not even maybe not even. ask questions directly to the witnesses. but can he be there and like you know. can I jot down ask this ask this ask. this. He may not directly say it, but he. may, you know, encourage his lawyers to. ask questions. >> Well, that's not unusual. I mean, the. defendant can be at the deposition and. not be disruptive and write down on a. pad, like you just said, questions like, "Can you ask this?" Or they can take a. break, they can go out and he can say,

"Oh, by the way, ask this and that." So, I I don't really find that to be highly. unusual. I think in this case, and I'm. not sure, Jesse, you'll have to tell me, was he out on bail or not? Um, or is he. still incarcerated? I think that may be. the problem because if he's actually not. been given bail, then now we have a. logistical issue having to do with um. having him there when he is in jail. But. normally, if he was out, yes, he could.

be present at those depositions. He. could not because he's represented by. counsel um actively ask questions or do. anything that would disrupt that. deposition, but he does have a right to. be there. >> Yeah, as far as we know, I I think his. bond was set at $50,000 and he was still. in the jail. I I couldn't confirm. whether that had changed, but you make a. good point. Uh I will tell you, Judge. Drake indicated he wanted to hear from. both sides on this. Seemingly, we'll. decide this at a at a later date. Um, one of the questions I have, and it.

seems that we're getting a sense of it, is this trial really going to be a. battle of experts to determine how. Hillary died? What was the cause of. death? And if it wasn't lidocaine. toxicity, what could be a potential. cause of death that would negate. manslaughter here? >> So, I think it's going to be a. combination. There is also going to be. whether he was following the standard of. care because remember it is that he.

flagrantly disregarded the safety of. her. It's not simple negligence. So what. level you're going to have to have. experts say okay the standard of care. for instance if when someone is seizing. for an you know in office treatment or. operation that you are supposed to call. 911 um you know that you are supposed to. have the EKG you're supposed to have. extra fluids uh you are supposed to. inspect the IV for instance a nurse so. it's going to be a cumulative testimony.

as to what the pro medical protocol call. was supposed to be and how he. disregarded that protocol and how that. it rose to that level. I will tell you. one of the things that I think is very. interesting is you almost had not a mini. trial per se, but maybe a preview of. what to expect at the criminal trial. because of this administrative hearing. that was held by the Florida Department. of Health. Um because they were looking. to further sanction Brown. They're.

petitioning Florida's Division of. Administrative Hearings to impose more. penalties, permanently revoking or. suspending his license, maybe even. fines. And I talked about how witnesses. provided their accounts, but actually it. was reported that Brown had testified at. the hearing, too. Defended his practice, defended his actions, said he was trying. to protect his wife. And the first thing. I thought of, okay, this could be a. preview of him maybe testifying and him. maybe provide explaining what happened. Now, obviously, it's the defendant's. choice, but I do wonder if this is a.

case where he may say, "I think it's. necessary for me to take the stand and. explain what happened that day.". >> So, he may not have to do that because. we have this other testimony before the. licensing board. Now, it is important to. remember that that standard is much. lower. And what they're looking at is. not whether he was, you know, it was. manslaughter, but they're looking at was. a was he what his actions a danger to. the public and if it breached that.

standard that's required of doctors. That's much lower and it's a different. focus than that we're going to have. Although there are, you know, obviously. what took place is the same set of. facts. And by the way, that administrative. hearing uh we believe finished up last. month. So it's waiting on the judge. who's overseeing that case to issue a. final summary to the Florida Board of. Medicine. They're going to have the say. on what happens to Brown's medical. license. And you had indicated that. there's probably a strong likelihood he. might lose it. But there's also been.

civil litigation. Okay. So there are. reported two medical malpractice. lawsuits against Brown's Restore Plastic. Surgery. There's one that names him uh. as a defendant according to USA Today. And I just want to briefly talk about. this lawsuit that was filed against. Brown Baptist Hospital, Restore Plastic. Surgery, North Florida Surgeons, Northern Florida Surgeons, Pensacola. Plastic Surgery. And this is on behalf. of Brown's former patient named Wendy. Carden and her husband. And according to.

the Daily Mail, Carden alleges that. Brown used quote foreign materials in a. postmasectomy reconstructive breast. surgery back in 2018. that this caused. infection, sepsis, that she suffered. nerve damage, permanent injury. The case. appears to be ongoing. It's being. reported the parties couldn't reach a uh. a settlement through mediation. Alexis, A, thoughts on that kind of lawsuit and. B, does that play a role in the criminal. case? I think it is going to play a role. because once again you need to show that.

there was a disregard for human safety. and that is going to show almost like a. pattern that you have that they come in. that he was not following the protocols. because this is really going to get down. to the protocols. It's not that he. intentionally tried to kill her. They're. not alleging that. That's not what he's. being tried for. And I'm sure he's very. sad that his wife is no and the mother. of his children are is no longer here.

So that is going to go to the fact that. he was not following appropriate. protocols. Not just here. This wasn't. simple negligence where he made a. mistake, but he just had a pattern of. not following these protocols. Um, and. also, you know, with those two those two. lawsuits, you know, that potentially can. come in because in Florida when it comes. to your license, you if you have a. certain amount of malpractice claims. against you, you can lose your license. just for that. So, you know, if you're.

found to be liable for those. So, I. think that is going to potentially play. into this as well. Now, when he was. first under investigation, his family. released a statement defending him, highlighting the quote, "Many myth. truths circulating online and in the. media. Ben is completely devastated by. the sudden loss of his loving wife, Hillary, and is desperately trying to. understand how to live one day, never. mind a lifetime without her by his. side." They called the surgery minor and. routine. Quote, "Our lives have been.

permanently upended by the loss of. Hillary, and we will forever keep her in. our hearts." This is what the family. statement said. The other side of it is. Hillary's father, Marty Ellington, told. the Pensacola News Journal that his. daughter died because of quote one. careless individual. Quote, "His ego and. arrogance overshadowed the need for. help, prolonging oxygen deprivation to. her brain and ultimately causing her. death." Ben Brown took the mother from. my grandchildren, my only daughter, and. our brightest star. Now, how much is.

that going to factor in also into this. case when you have the competing. seemingly the competing feelings, emotions, narratives from family members. here, Alexis? >> Well, I mean, at sentencing that would. come in. That's not necessarily going to. come in as part of of the trial. And. that sounds to me like a natural. reaction. But I also and I hate to blame. the victim, but it just seems from the. allegations, this was a very sloppy. medical practice based on those. allegations. It also seems like the wife. wasn't entirely innocent because we have.

allegations that she's making IV bags, the allegations that she is injecting. people without a license, which is. criminal in itself, and we, you know, that she's taking handfuls of pills. So this really to me is sloppy that he. should have and the files not being. documented correctly that you know we. didn't know we nobody really knows. exactly how many pills exactly what was. in that IV bag. The only person that. knows that is the deceased. So I I I.

don't think that's going to come out. I. think it would be a bad uh you know a. bad thing for the state attorney to try. to victimize the victim. But also uh you. know ultimately his responsibility. You. know, it he was the physician. It was. his responsibility. to make sure that this the whatever was. in the IV bag was correct. Whatever. amount of pills she was taking was. correct. It can't it comes down to the. doctor. Any way you cut it.

>> And one other thing real quick, this is. something we brought up in our previous. episode episode of Sidebar on this. I. want to just bring it up again. These were not the first allegations of. alleged, you know, medical malpractice. made against Dr. Brown. The health. department report detailed two other. alleged incidents I just want to get. into. So, the first involves a patient. referred to as BF. This is a 40-year-old. woman. According to the report, she. quote met with Dr. Brown to discuss. undergoing a breast implant replacement, tummy tuck, liposuction, fat injection.

into her lips. During the consultation, Dr. Brown recommended patient BF also. receive glutial fat injections, also. known as a Brazilian buttlft, BBL. Patient BF did not want a BBL and. specifically stated she did not. authorize Dr. Brown to inject fat into. her buttocks. Despite patient BF's. decision not to receive a BBL, Dr. Brown. accurately documented in patient BF's. records that she wished to have glutial. fat injections to improve the lateral.

contour of her buttocks. The report said. that in addition to her other. procedures, Brown also did the fat. transfer. Again, this unauthorized. procedure. That's the allegation. And. she claims when she returned for scar. revision surgery, Brown delegated the. procedure to that physician assistant I. mentioned before, Sean Kirby. And BF. referred to the procedure as quote pure. torture. It says, quote, neither Mr. Kirby nor the other assistants wore. surgical face masks despite patient BF's. large open abdominal wound. According to.

BF, she eventually took off her bandage. to find she had a deep hole in her. stomach. BF also claimed that Hillary, who the allegation is, this is. unlicensed person acting as a medical. professional, performed laser therapy on. her at a later visit. On February 14th, 2024, patient BF was interviewed by the. department. Patient BF reported that her. body is disfigured from the treatment. she received from Dr. Brown and his. employees between 2021 and 2023. The. other complaint listed refers to a woman.

called JH, a then listed 55-year-old. woman. Once again, the report states. that JH did not want a BBL. However, the. doctor apparently performed one anyway. And the following month, JH's abdominal. incision allegedly opened, began leaking. fluid, and then she returned to Dr. Brown's office for a follow-up. Quote, "Patient JH confronted Dr. Brown about. her enlarged buttocks, and Dr. Brown. stated that he performed a BBL and. thought that she would quote would love. it. Brown reportedly put JH into a.

compression garment, then went around. her abdomen, which she was unable to. remove on her own. When she returned to. the office, a medical assistant removed. the garment and patient JH had a large. area of skin necrosis on her abdomen. And necrosis is when cells in your body, the body tissues, they die. So, it's. basically like gang green. Dr. Brown. observed patient JH's necrotic skin and. advised that it would need to be. excised. Dr. Brown cut a hole in her. abdomen that was approximately 7 in.

long, 4 in wide, and half an inch deep. Dr. Brown attempted to reuture the area, but the sutures split open. Dr. Brown. packed patient JH's open wound with. acetic acid and gauze and sent her home. The open wound on patient JH's abdomen. did not heal. Dr. Brown broke down and. told patient JH that everything was a. mess and the patient's friend who was a. nurse and finally took the woman to the. emergency room. The consulting surgeon. observed patient JH's wound and stated. that it was horrific and that she had.

never seen anything like it. To this. day, patient JH still has constant pain. in her diaphragm, abdomen, and hips. Now, Alexis got these two accounts. I do. wonder once again, could this play a. role in the criminal trial? And you do. wonder whether or not that will help the. prosecution because you have these. accounts where some a defense attorney. may say, "Well, if there really was a. problem, why did you keep coming back? Why didn't you just go to someone else?". Um, but at the same time, you know, how.

are they supposed to know what's going. on? I do wonder what do you think about. these two accounts? Well, so I mean a. lot of times it's not unusual if that. you you have a treatment and there's. some sort of complication, you're going. to go immediately back to your doctor. and you don't necessarily know. immediately. how bad it is or even if it's unusual. because you know when you go in they do. this whole this could happen, that could. happen. So you don't know most people. don't have medical licenses. So, yeah. I. mean, luckily she ended up going and.

going into the ER and hopefully getting. some treatment. Um, even though you said. she's still in pain, this I mean, this. definitely goes towards having his. license permanently taken away. All of. those factors for sure. I think that the. defense is going to try very hard to. keep this out. Uh, that they're going to. say that it's not admissible. is not. pertinent obviously to the situation. that's specific to his wife. Um, and I'm.

not sure that necessarily we that they. need it. I'm sure the state attorney. wants it, but I'm not sure they. necessarily need it because the. testimony that's probably going to come. in from all of these nurses that sound. like they have been traumatized by the. situation and we'll be able to testify. what the protocols are, what exactly. happened. I think this is so egregious. what happened to the wife that they. don't necessarily need those other. things to come in if they don't if.

they're not able to get them in. >> Yeah, they might say it's too. prejuditial. It's not relevant to the. the situation at hand. But look, we. wanted to bring it up uh because it is. another series of allegations. Okay, we'll continue to see what happens. Uh. Alexis Rosenberg, thanks so much for. taking the time. Great to see you. >> Thanks, Jesse. Thanks for having me as. always. >> And that's all we have for you right now. here on Sidebar, everybody. Thank you so. much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple. Podcast, Spotify, wherever you get your. podcasts. You can follow me on X or. Instagram. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll see you. next time.

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