Plastic surgeon who left his own wife seizing on operating table for up to 20 minutes charged in her death

Dr. Benjamin Jacob Brown (Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office) and Hillary Ellington Brown (Rose Lawn Funeral Home)

A 40-year-old plastic surgeon in Florida has been arrested for allegedly killing his 33-year-old wife last year, refusing to call 911 for about 20 minutes after she went into cardiac arrest while he was performing a series of cosmetic procedures in his office last year.

Benjamin Jacob Brown was taken into custody on Monday and charged with one count of second-degree felony homicide for alleged manslaughter by culpable negligence in the death of Hillary Ellington Brown, authorities announced.

According to a news release from the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office, deputies on Nov. 21, 2023, responded to a call regarding a medical emergency at Restore Plastic Surgery in the 1600 block of Nantahala Beach Road in Gulf Breeze, Florida. Upon arriving at the office, first responders located a female victim — later identified as Hillary Brown — suffering from cardiac arrest.

Hillary Brown was transported to a local hospital for medical treatment where she was placed on life support for a week before she was pronounced dead.

Following an “extensive investigation” in conjunction with the District One Medical Examiner’s Office and the State Attorney’s Office, authorities requested a warrant for the arrest of Benjamin Brown, which was issued Friday. He turned himself in to the sheriff’s office on Monday morning.

The Florida Department of Health in May 2024 issued an order of emergency restriction of Dr. Brown’s license which provided additional information about Hillary Brown’s death.

The document states that on the day she went into cardiac arrest, Hillary Brown was scheduled to undergo “miniature muscle plication/abdominal scar revision, bilateral arm liposuction, lip injections, and ear adjustment procedures.”

Prior to the procedures, Hillary Brown, who has no formal medical training as a nurse or doctor, mized her own IV bags and ingested a “handful” of “multi-colored pills, which included Valium,” the medical board wrote.

While Dr. Brown was allowing his wife to suture her own skin after the initial procedure, Hillary Brown became “restless and her feet began twitching.” While Dr. Brown was performing liposuction on his wife’s arm, her twitching got worse, and then the situation quickly snowballed.

“(Hillary Brown) stated that her vision started to blur, and she told Dr. Brown that she saw ‘orange,'” the report states. “Restlessness, muscle twitches, and blurred vision are all early signs of lidocaine toxicity. Dr. Brown continued injecting lidocaine/Xylocaine in (Hillary Brown’s) face.”

Soon after, Hillary Brown became unresponsive and began to have a seizure. The Medical Board noted that when a patient experiences a seizure during a medical procedure, the “minimum prevailing professional standard of care” requires a doctor to “immediately initiate emergency transfer to a higher level of care.”

“A medical assistant asked Dr. Brown if they should call 911 and Dr. Brown said ‘no,'” the document states. “Over the next 10-20 minutes, a medical assistant asked Dr. Brown if they should call 911 and Dr. Brown said ‘no,’ or ‘wait.’ The medical assistant was scared and a new employee, so she did as Dr. Brown instructed.”

Instead of calling an ambulance, Dr. Brown allegedly “shouted” at the staff, asking “what medication did she take, what did she take.”

About 10 to 20 minutes after Hillary Brown suffered a seizure, Dr. Brown instructed an assistant to call 911, but his wife never regained consciousness. Her cause of death was later determined to be “complications following lidocaine toxicity.”

The medical board determined that Dr. Brown’s treatment of his wife was “careless and haphazard.”

“The level of disregard Dr. Brown paid to patient safety, even when the patient was his wife, indicates that Dr. Brown is unwilling or incapable of providing the appropriate level of care to his future patients,” the board wrote. “Dr. Brown’s most problematic violation during H.R.’s procedure was his failure to react swiftly in response to a serious medical emergency.”

Hillary Brown’s father, Marty Ellington, told the Pensacola News Journal that news of Dr. Brown’s arrest was a welcome relief.

“My family lives in a sea of tears for eternity due to the actions of one careless individual,” he told the newspaper. “His ego and arrogance overshadowed the need for help, prolonging oxygen deprivation to her brain and ultimately causing her death. Ben Brown took the mother from my grandchildren, my only daughter and our brightest star. Hillary gave the ultimate sacrifice so Ben Brown cannot hurt anyone else. Maybe in prison, he will get the attention he deserves.”

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