Atlanta “Dancing Doctor” Has Her License Suspended

By Grant Law Office on July 16, 2018

Imagine having cosmetic surgery, then, to your surprise, seeing footage of that surgery broadcast on YouTube – without your consent. What’s worse, the doctor performing the surgery is dancing and rapping at the same time.

Does this sound like a pitch for a bad sitcom? Well, it isn’t.

It actually happened in the Atlanta suburb of Lilburn, Georgia. Dermatologist> Windell Davis Boutté posted homemade videos of herself and her assistants dancing, singing, and rapping while performing surgical procedures on naked, sedated patients to her YouTube channel. Dr. Davis Boutté claims the patients consented to the videos, but many of them have disputed this. But, even more disturbing, the videos reveal the doctor and assistants engaging in unsanitary acts in an operating facility, which is supposed to be a sterile environment. Some of the videos show Davis Boutté not wearing a surgical mask, touching non-sterile surfaces, and even wearing sunglasses during procedures.

Now for a little good news, and a lot of bad news. The good news is that, after more than two and a half years of complaints, the Georgia Composite Medical Board has suspended Davis Boutté’s license to practice medicine. The doctor’s license wasn’t suspended because of the videos, but because she has been the defendant in at least seven medical malpractice lawsuits, four of which she has settled for amounts of $900,000 to $1,000,000. In one case, a 54-year-old woman was left with permanent brain damage, and will require 24-hour care for the rest of her life. In another case, a woman went in for a procedure, and woke up hours later, alone in a hotel room, with no idea how she got there. Numerous other patients claim surgeries the doctor performed left them disfigured. Windell Davis Boutté’s website claims she is board-certified in both medical dermatology and skin surgery; while she is certified to practice dermatology by the American Academy of Dermatology, she has no surgical certifications.

The case of the “Dancing Doctor” highlights some serious loopholes in Georgia’s regulation of physicians, and the country’s as a whole. There are currently no laws regulating what areas of practice a licensed medical doctor can practice in. For instance, no laws forbid a podiatrist (foot doctor) from performing brain surgery. But if a podiatrist with no surgical certification went to a hospital with the intent of performing brain surgery, the hospital would not allow its facilities to be used. In the case of the “Dancing Doctor,” she was performing her surgeries out of her office.

Regardless of legality, all doctors have a duty to treat patients with the same degree of care and skill that a competent physician would exhibit under the same circumstances. In other words, a doctor should treat a patient in a manner that is acceptable to the medical community at large.

For example, the common treatment for a burst appendix would be an emergency appendectomy. If the treating physician does not order or perform that operation, or doesn’t perform it in a timely manner, that is considered behavior below the accepted standard of medical care. If the patient suffers injury or dies due to this substandard care, the physician can be sued for medical malpractice.

If you suspect that you or a loved one has suffered because of a medical professional’s negligence, speak to an experienced Atlanta medical malpractice attorney. The legal team at Grant Law Office has been successfully representing medical malpractice victims in Georgia for well over 30 years. Let us put our experience, compassion, and dedication behind your claim. Call (404) 995-3955 for a free consultation.