An Ohio plastic surgeon accused of livestreaming patients’ procedures online won’t likely learn the fate of her medical license until July.
Dr. Katharine Roxanne Grawe – known to her thousands of social media followers as Dr. Roxy – has not been allowed to practice medicine since last fall and is fighting in hearings this week to keep state regulators from yanking her credentials for good.
The State Medical Board of Ohio voted on Nov. 18 to suspend Grawe’s medical license after “clear and convincing” evidence arose that her continued practice presented “a danger of immediate and serious harm to the public.” Grawe also is being sued by at least four women who say they faced complications after their surgeries.
In one case cited by the medical board, the doctor was looking and speaking to the camera while performing liposuction on a patient’s abdomen during a livestream broadcast. That patient suffered a perforated bowel and ended up in the emergency room with loss of brain function from toxins in the blood.
A lawyer for the doctor said this week that patients knew the risks ahead of surgery and the livestream broadcasts were intended to be educational.
Here’s everything we know about the case against Dr. Roxy the TikTok doc:
What exactly is ‘Dr. Roxy’ accused of?
Despite repeatedly warnings from state medical authorities, she continued to livestream patient procedures, and in some cases, answered viewer questions while actively performing surgery.
The secretary of the medical board cautioned Grawe at least twice in the past four years about the need to maintain patient privacy when sharing photos or video on social media, according to the notice of suspension filed online and sent to the doctor.
In September 2021, Grawe was urged by the secretary of the board to undertake remedial education courses related to plastic surgery complications, professionalism and ethics. She was asked to provide certificates of completion of the courses, along with summaries about what she learned and how she would apply it to her future practice.
After completing the remedial education courses, the board alleged Grawe continued to film and broadcast live the medical procedures of some patients until on or about Oct. 14.
“Aspects of these productions include, but are not limited to, preoperative photos, preoperative interviews with patients about their bodies, livestreams of procedures, postoperative still images of patients taken in the operating room, and the cost of the procedure,” the notice addressed to Grawe reads. “During some videos/live-streams you engage in dialogue to respond to viewers’ online questions while the surgical procedure remains actively ongoing.”
Was the TikTok doc accused of anything else?
The board cited three patients who reported having complications after Grawe performed surgery on them at her practice, Roxy Plastic Surgery.
In one case, a patient was sent to the emergency room by a nurse practitioner at Roxy Plastic Surgery less than a week after receiving liposuction, a Brazilian butt lift and a skin-tightening procedure from Grawe. Free air was found in her abdomen and medical staff determined she was suffering from hepatic encephalopathy, or loss of brain function when a damaged liver doesn’t remove toxins from the blood.
The patient was quickly transferred to another hospital for further evaluation and treatment. There, she underwent exploratory surgery and surgeons found her bowel had been perforated and she had a serious bacterial infection. The patient required a prolonged stay with multiple debridements, or procedures to remove dead tissue, open abdomen and skin grafting, according to Grawe’s notice of suspension.
At least part of her procedure at Grawe’s office was livestreamed on social media, according to the board, which said Grawe was looking and speaking to the camera while performing liposuction on the patient’s abdomen.
“Despite liposuction being a blind surgery that requires awareness of the tip of the cannula (thin tube) to avoid injury, your attention to the camera meant at those moments you were not looking at the patient or palpating the location of the tip of the cannula,” the suspension notice reads.
Grawe lawyer defends doctor’s procedures, livestreams
A lawyer representing Grawe during this week’s medical board hearing, Sabrina Sellers, said patients underwent the elective procedures aware of the risks, according to local ABC affiliate WSYX. Sellers said the social media broadcasts were meant to be” educational in nature and to allow her patients to feel comfortable with her prior to coming to her office.”
“She will tell you that although three patients did experience adverse outcomes, that there were known risks and complications of the procedures and they were not caused by a breach in the standard of care,” Sellers said. “The reason she places those videos out into the public, are to relate to her patients. It’s to educate, relate and demystify. She has nothing to hide.”
What now for ‘Dr. Roxy?’
Following this week’s hearings, an examiner will make a recommendation to the full medical board, said board spokeswoman Jerica Stewart.
At a public meeting, the board will deliberate the recommendation and a decision on Grawe’s medical license will likely be made at the board’s July 12 meeting, Stewart said.
Contact Filby at mfilby@dispatch.com or on Twitter @MaxFilby.
