Less than six months after a Miramar woman died during a botched liposuction procedure, the doctor who illegally performed the surgery has found employment at a cosmetic surgery facility only a few miles away from the scene of the tragic accident.
Dr. Omar Brito, who is currently under investigation by the Broward Sheriff's Office and the Florida Board of Medicine, is reportedly working for MG Medical Spa in Pembroke Pines and the family of Rohie Kah-Orukotan is not happy the man they feel is responsible for the Miami nurse's death is back in the medical field.
On Monday, the family served Brito with legal papers expressing their intent to file a medical malpractice lawsuit for the wrongful death of Kah-Orukotan, who family attorneys claim died after an allergic reaction to the drug propofol. Propofol is the same drug doctors believe killed pop star Michael Jackson.
On Sept. 25, Kah-Orukotan went to Weston Med Spa to surgically shed a few pounds. The surgery went wrong and the healthy 37-year-old mother of three went into a coma. She died after the family pulled the plug on life support two weeks later.
The Weston Med Spa was not licensed to host a laser liposuction and it has since closed down. But Brito has continued to work in the cosmetic surgery field.
Brito's attorney said although he is working at a cosmetic surgery facility that advertises lipo, his client is not performing it. He hasn't performed one since the Kah-Orukotan death, Brian Bieber said.
"He knows he did nothing wrong and why create a media circus by doing the procedures?" he said. "He is letting the administrative process and legal process pan out and then he will continue to practice medicine as he did before the death."
Sources, however, have told NBCMiami that the spa indicated that Brito was available to handle liposuctions and liposuction consultations. The spa refused to comment on the matter.
Despite the controversy surrounding Brito, his medical license is "fully in tact" and he could perform liposuction or liposurgery if he chose to, Bieber said. Brito is performing basic cosmetic and aesthetic procedures at MG Medical Center, he said.
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The Orukotan family couldn't believe it when they discovered Brito was still performing surgeries on women and that no action had been taken against him, family attorney Michael Freedland said.
"I just pray that the state will take action and get people like Dr. Brito out of business," widowed husband Joe Orukotan said.
The family alleges that Brito's use of propofol, a powerful anesthetic, and the doctor's inadequate equipment resulted in Orukotan's untimely death.
The Broward Medical Examiner's Office is taking an unusually long time releasing a final finding in the death of Orukotan and no charges will be filed until the report is released announcing the exact cause of death.
Bieber contends propofol is not the smoking gun the family believes it is.
"That small amount of propofol did not contribute to Mrs. Orokutan's death in any way," he said. "Any mention of it is just to sensationalize the case and link this tragic death to the Michael Jackson fiasco."
