A Broward doctor’s liposuction caused digestive system holes and death, state says
Liposuction left holes in a man’s chest muscle and other places and led to his death, according to a Florida Department of Health administrative complaint against the Fort Lauderdale doctor.
That’s not only stated in the complaint against Dr. Don Ray Revis, Jr. The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation entry of the $250,000 insurance payout says the “principal injury” of the claim was “The patient ultimately died as a result of the liposuction due to a complication of perforations.”
Revis’ online Florida Department of Health license entry shows no previous disciplinary issues. Though Revis lists American Board of Surgery and American Board of Plastic Surgery certifications on the license entry, only the latter remains. The former expired at the end of 2022.
Revis didn’t return phone or email messages from the Miami Herald.
Liposuction and perforations
The complaint says 58-year-old “W.H.” had liposuction involving VASER — vibration amplification of sound energy at resonance, a form of ultrasound, as described in an article found in the National Library of Medicine — in January 2021 and returned to South Florida Plastic Surgery, 4200 N. Federal Hwy., on Feb. 23, 2022 for a repeat.
“Repeat VASER-assisted liposuction is associated with additional potential risks, including perforation, due to scarring from the initial procedure,” the complaint said. “[Revis] failed to document any discussion with W.H. about the additional risks associated with a second liposuction procedure.”
Two days later, W.H. was found unconscious at home and taken to Aventura Hospital, where he was admitted “with a diagnosis of severe sepsis.”
W.H. died the next day.
The autopsy, the complaint said, revealed “multiple perforations” in the gall bladder bed, middle of the small intestines, a membrane that attaches the colon to the abdominal wall; a chest muscle and an abdominal muscle.
“The standard of care required that a physician not cause repeated intra-abdominal perforations while performing VASER-assisted liposuction,” the complaint said.
