A woman in Arizona has sued her plastic surgeon, accusing him of botching her procedure while operating under the influence of alcohol, leaving her in distress, according to local reports.
Dr. Bradley Becker is a “Double Board Certified-Plastic Reconstructive surgeon who has been practicing in AZ for 21 years. Specializing in Breast and Body,” according to his Instagram bio.
“It’s hard to feel like you can go out when you feel like Frankenstein,” his former patient, Wendy Ellsworth, said in an interview Friday with Phoenix New Times. Ellsworth said she got a tummy tuck and breast reduction with Dr. Becker.
Ellsworth sued Becker in Maricopa County Superior Court in September, accusing the Glendale plastic and reconstructive surgeon of “medical negligence,” “battery” and “intentional infliction of emotional distress,” the report said.
Ellsworth said she thought she smelled alcohol when Dr. Becker came to see her before the operation began.
“I had put my money down. The way he was acting, there was no way he was gonna give me my money back,” she said in the interview with Phoenix New Times. “And so, I just kept going.”
When Ellsworth finally saw the results, her worries were confirmed, she said. There was extra skin sagging off her body that she believed should have been removed during the surgery, according to the suit.
“I didn’t go to family parties. I didn’t want to go anywhere. I didn’t want to dress up. If I went anywhere, I would wear really tight undergarments, trying to tuck all the extra skin they didn’t take. The whole point of a tummy tuck is to not have that,” she told the Phoenix New Times.
Ellsworth said she believed something was fishy before the procedure occurred.
“I knew there was something wrong when he just said, ‘Alright, let’s go to the operating room,’ and he hadn’t marked me up,” Ellsworth said.
The original procedure cost $16,000, and she had to shell out another $25,000 for a corrective procedure with another surgeon, according to the local report.
To be able to afford the corrective procedure, Ellsworth’s husband took a second job, working all hours of the day and night.
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Ellsworth alleged she developed debilitating depression which affected her marriage.
“Dr. Becker destroyed my wife. He destroyed who she was,” Tyler Ellsworth wrote in a letter to the osteopathic board in Arizona. “The crushing depression and anguish she has gone through is indescribable. His cuts went deeper than just removing skin from her stomach and breasts and quite literally scarring her for life.”
Dr. Becker denied that he drank alcohol before surgery in his response to the original complaint. He also said the procedure was in line with the standard of care, the Phoenix New Times reported.
A lawsuit filed by another patient of Dr. Becker in October featured a similar allegation – which the plastic surgeon also denied.
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“Plaintiff [Alicia Armijo] has suffered extreme emotional distress, not only over the outcome of her surgery, but the fact that Defendant was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the surgery and should not have begun the surgery in his altered state,” the lawsuit said. “In the weeks and months following the surgery by Defendant, Plaintiff was constantly weeping, deeply upset about the outcome, and in a state of despair.”
Armijo said she would need a corrective procedure and that the additional surgery would cost $12,000, according to the Phoenix New Times.
Dr. Becker was contacted for comment and his attorney said they won’t comment on pending litigation and will “try this case in the courtroom, not the press.”
