Dr. Windell Davis Boutté, the Georgia dermatologist who has gone viral with videos of herself dancing while performing surgery, is facing numerous malpractice lawsuits.
Per WSB-TV, Dr. Boutté is facing at least seven lawsuits, which include claims that she used unqualified staff during medical procedures that allegedly left her patients disfigured. Two additional lawsuit settlements are reportedly listed on the state licensing board’s website―though reports indicated that she’s settled at least five cases in recent months.
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, one of those settled cases involved Icilma Cornelius, a soon-to-be bride who sought Botox and an anti-wrinkle treatment. While there, staff recommended that she get a tummy tuck for her upcoming nuptials, which she obliged.
Cornelius’ heart reportedly stopped during the 8-hour surgery, prompting staff at the ill-equipped office to call 911. Her getting into the ambulance was delayed because concerns of an infection allegedly led Boutté and another employee to suture Cornelius’ skin. Then, paramedics had to carry her to the ambulance because the stretcher couldn’t fit in the elevator, the newspaper reported.
While Cornelius survived, she reportedly suffered irreversible brain damage from going without oxygen for too long.
The Georgia doctor is also accused of using unqualified staff, misleading patients about the surgeries they’ll undergo, and using cost-cutting measures at patients’ expense.
While Boutté’s website states she’s “board certified in both surgery and dermatology,” both the Journal-Constitution and WSB-TV discovered she’s a board-certified dermatologist—but not a board-certified plastic surgeon or general surgeon.
“I think there is a small U-Haul’s worth of information that has been provided to the Composite Medical Board,” attorney Susan Witt told WSB-TV.
Witt is representing sisters Kristine Dolly and Mitzi McFarland, former patients who sought SmartLipo, a laser procedure to remove fat, at Boutté’s office. Dolly and McFarland claimed they later learned they underwent traditional liposuction.
McFarland also said she returned to Boutté’s office for a touch-up and was told she wouldn’t be sedated or need someone to drive her home. However, she claimed she woke up 18 hours later at a hotel near the doctor’s office.
“I was put to sleep, and then I woke up some 18 hours later in the hotel bedroom with a McDonald’s sandwich in my hand, one bite out of it,” McFarland said.
A deposition obtained by the news station stated that an employee said she and Boutté drove McFarland to the hotel and that Boutté had checked her in.
The Georgia doctor recently gained international attention for reportedly posting more than 20 marketing videos to YouTube. The station reported that many of these videos show patients lying unconscious on the operating table while she dances to tailor-made renditions of popular songs, including “Bad and Boujee,” “Building up Fat in the Booty,” “Cut It,” and “Gut Don’t Live Here Anymore.”
It wasn’t long after gaining viral status that stories of Boutté’s questionable practices came to light.
Witt said the state medical board as done “absolutely nothing” about the problematic doctor. Furthermore, a joint investigation by the Journal-Constitution and WSB-TV uncovered that she continues to practice despite a physician reporting her to the state’s licensing board in 2016.
Witt told the newspaper, “The medical board’s failure to take action in the two-and-a-half years they have known about Ms. Cornelius’ case, among others, amounts to gross negligence.”
[Featured image: Dr. Windell Davis Boutté/WSB-TV video screenshot]