Father Gives Statement After Daughter Passes Away During Procedure
In a chilling case that has sent shockwaves through the medical community, a Florida plastic surgeon stands accused of letting his wife die after injecting her with an excessive amount of painkillers during a cosmetic surgery procedure. The victim’s father, Marty Ellington, told Fox News Digital that Hillary Brown, 33, had been planning to leave Dr. Ben Brown, 41, after their marriage began to deteriorate.
"Everybody needs to know what kind of character this guy is," Ellington said. "He’s real suave and debonair. He’ll put on like he’s the victim, but he’s not. He’s literally a Charles Manson."
The Gulf Breeze physician surrendered to authorities on Monday after a judge issued a warrant for his arrest on charges of manslaughter, a second-degree felony that carries a potential life sentence if convicted. Dr. Brown was later released on bail.
Investigations revealed that Dr. Brown delayed calling 911 for nearly 20 minutes after Hillary began exhibiting severe symptoms such as twitching, blurred vision, and seizures on the operating table. Despite desperate pleas from his staff, he resisted summoning emergency help.
Hillary, who was the mother of three children from a previous marriage, was finally rushed to the hospital on November 21, 2023. She slipped into a coma and died a week later. A medical examiner concluded her death was due to "complications following lidocaine toxicity."
Ellington believes his son-in-law saw a grim opportunity to end Hillary's life amid their tumultuous relationship. "I don't think that it was premeditated," he stated. "But I will, to the end of my days, believe that he saw an opportunity. Because when she got to that point [of lidocaine poisoning], he knew that he could, you know, he knew how many minutes to delay and what the outcome would be."
Dr. Brown's staff recounted his reluctance to call for help during the critical moments as his wife convulsed on the table. One former employee revealed that the doctor frequently administered higher doses of medication to his wife than recommended. This reckless behavior previously led to a situation where he struggled to wake her after another procedure, according to the Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office.
Despite the gravity of the charges, Brown's attorney, Barry Beroset, declined to comment on the case, citing a policy against discussing pending litigation in the media.
Ellington, who resides in Houston, described his growing concerns over Dr. Brown's influence on his daughter. He alleged that Brown's once-thriving practice was nearing financial ruin, plagued by lawsuits and patient complaints. Hillary had planned to leave Brown after Christmas, Ellington said.
The father recounted how Dr. Brown's repeated cosmetic procedures drastically altered Hillary's natural appearance, to the point where friends speculated he was trying to make her look like actress Megan Fox. "Everything he had done made her look worse and worse from her natural beauty," Ellington lamented.
During the week Hillary lay in a coma, Ellington observed that Brown remained oddly composed and never shed a tear. Ellington ultimately cut off communication with Brown after discovering he was selling Hillary’s belongings online shortly after her death.
"I hope his life every day is as miserable as he's made ours," Ellington said. "And my grandkids and my extended family, you know, and all the other patients that he was so arrogant and egotistical that he didn't take safety precautions into mind."
The Florida Department of Health condemned Dr. Brown's negligence, concluding that his disregard for patient safety—even when the patient was his wife—demonstrated his unfitness to practice medicine.
"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 agency stated.
Dr. Marc Siegel, clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center, criticized Dr. Brown's decision to operate on his wife, labeling it as both immoral and unethical. "Whether this is illegal or not, it's immoral and unethical for any physician to perform procedures on a family member," Siegel told Fox News Digital.
Siegel also condemned Brown's failure to call 911 immediately during his wife's medical emergency. "It’s shocking that they would block an emergency response by not calling 911 immediately, especially during a seizure," he said. "If someone has a seizure, you call 911. It’s an extremely disturbing apparent deviation from standard of care."
Dr. Brown, who graduated from Georgetown University's Department of Plastic Surgery in 2015, held medical licenses in several states, including Florida, Virginia, Washington, and Washington, D.C. Now, his professional future and personal freedom hang in the balance as the legal proceedings unfold.