The Florida Board of Medicine voted Friday to revoke the license of Dr. Osak Omulepu, a plastic surgeon who has been the focus of an NBC 6 Investigation.
The 7-4 vote to revoke came after the board voted to reprimand, fine and place Dr. Omulepu on probation. Over the next week, a judge will decide whether to implement the revocation or grant a stay, which means Dr. Omulepu could continue practicing during the appeals process according to the Florida Board of Medicine.
An administrative law judge ruled in January that Omulepu committed medical malpractice after operating on two women on the same day in May 2015. The judge said he improperly used the metal instruments to inject fat, along with record keeping violations.
Both women were hospitalized after having the popular Brazilian Butt Lift surgery.
Nyosha Fowler and Donna McRae traveled to Miami from out-of-state to undergo the procedure. That's where fat is taken from a patient's stomach or back and injected into their butt.
The doctor's tools struck McRae's liver and Fowler's bowel. Both women were hospitalized and Fowler said she still has trouble walking two years later.
Dr. Omulepu's attorney argued hitting an organ is a known complication that is covered in the consent form signed by patients.
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The Brazilian Butt Lift procedure is growing in popularity around the world. A series of NBC 6 Investigations into the surgery sparked a worldwide study that found the risk of dying is up to 20 times greater than any other cosmetic procedure. The study also issued new recommendations to doctors, encouraging them to not insert their instruments too deeply into the body to avoid into veins and organs.
Also, the Board of Medicine also voted to discipline Dr. Amaryllis Pascual, a plastic surgeon. She was accused of doing liposuction on a man who wasn't a good candidate for the procedure.
During the process, her instruments hit his colon.
Ricardo Martinez says he was hospitalized for three weeks following his surgery.
"I've been dealing with this for a little bit over four years," Martinez said. "A day doesn't go by that I don't think about it. I dream about it. I wake up in the middle of the night thinking about it"
Dr. Pascual was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine and was ordered to not perform any additional liposuction procedures until the state can evaluate her skills.
She and her attorney did not have a comment for NBC 6 following the board's decision.
