Doctor Banned From Performing 'Brazilian Butt Lift' Surgeries After Deaths

A doctor in Miami, Florida, has been banned from performing Brazilian butt lift (BBL) surgeries after one of his patient died, according to reports.

The patient, aged 33, that Dr. John Sampson performed the surgery on died the same day, June 16, 2021, according to a Miami Herald report.

The Florida Board of Medicine handed out their punishment to Sampson last Friday. He was banned from performing the procedure again, fined $20,000 and $5,626 for the investigation and prosecution costs.

In addition to this, he was ordered to perform five hours of continuing medical education in medical records keeping, must present a one-hour lecture on liposuction and gluteal fat grafting (BBL surgeries are a form of each), and can't be the Designation Physician at any office surgery center.

Sampson's patient died after Sampson allegedly punctured her liver and intestines during the procedure, according to a Mail Online report.

Sampson was working at Seduction Cosmetic Surgery in Coral Gables and despite the fines and bans, he will keep his medical licence. The Surgery also had a doctor banned for similar infractions in 2017.

Sampson was the 'designated physician' at Seduction, according to a complaint filed against him. This meant that he was not supposed to be performing surgeries himself.

However, it was discovered within the complaint that he performed several surgeries between April and June of 2021, including seven on the day his patient died, according to the Mail Online report.

Florida's Board of Medicine made an emergency ruling in June of this year limiting doctors to three BBL procedures per day.

The BBL procedure has increased in popularity over the last few years but remains a controversial plastic surgery.

After the rise of liposuction in the 80s and 90s, where fat is removed from parts of the body where it is not wanted, surgeons began to explore re-adding the removed fat into other areas of the body—and so the Brazilian butt lift was born.

During BBLs, liposuction removes fat from other parts of the patient's body, normally the stomach, thighs or back. Often, the patient is required to put on weight before their surgery, to ensure enough fat is able to be taken out and added back in.

The fat is purified out of the body, and reinjected back into the hips and butt, giving the patient the popular hourglass figure.

A 2020 survey by the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery found that since 2015, the number of butt lifts performed across the globe has grown by 77.6 percent.