The plastic surgeon known as “Dr. Roxy” on TikTok has been barred from practising medicine in Ohio after authorities decided that she inflicted harm on patients while live-streaming their surgeries to hundreds of thousands of spectators.
![TikTok plastic surgeon](https://worldtrendingworldtrendingwebstories/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/tiktok_doctor.webp)
The State Medical Board of Ohio permanently revoked Katharine Roxanne Grawe’s medical licence on Wednesday and penalised her $4,500 “based on her failure to meet standard of care,” board representative Jerica Stewart told The Washington Post.
The board discovered that, while performing surgeries, Grawe live-streamed sections of her patients’ procedures on TikTok, spoke into the camera, and answered viewer queries from some of her 825,000 followers. According to the board, at least three patients reported significant consequences — infections, a perforated intestine, and a loss of brain function — and the need for medical treatment after Grawe operated on them at Roxy Plastic Surgery in Powell, Ohio.
Grawe, whose licence was suspended in November, made an emotional plea to the board on Wednesday, saying that ‘I will never live-stream a surgery again’. However, it had no effect on the board.
“I strongly recommend that there never be a Dr. Roxy or patient one, two, or three — and protect the people of the state of Ohio from this reckless physician,” Jonathan Feibel, vice president of the medical board, told WCMH, an NBC affiliate in Columbus, Ohio, on Wednesday.
Grawe, 44, told The Washington Post on Thursday that she was “obviously devastated” by her patients’ issues and the board’s decision to remove her medical licence permanently. She insisted, though, that live-streaming the surgeries — to anywhere from 100,000 to 500,000 TikTok users every video — had no effect on the procedures. Grawe, who is being sued by three patients who need medical attention after she performed surgery on them, also accused the medical board of “bullying” her during her suspension and this week’s hearing.
“No one wants a complication, and we never want things to go wrong, but any complications that occurred with me were not due to my lack of attention,” Grawe explained. “My entire life’s goal is to give these people confidence and to make them more beautiful.” And, sadly, they experienced these issues, which makes me quite sorry. I would never want anything terrible on them.”
Requests for comment were not immediately returned by Grawe’s attorney, Sabrina Sellers, or Jim Arnold, the attorney representing the three women suing the plastic surgeon. Stewart said Grawe has about two weeks to file an appeal after the board’s decision is mailed.
Since 2010, Grawe had been a practising plastic surgeon in the Columbus area. According to Grawe, she specialised in cosmetic surgery for women’s breasts, such as breast augmentation and lifts, and also provided “mommy makeovers,” tummy tucks, and other procedures. Her schedule was filled with surgeries over the next two years, she recalled, including 80 to 100 breast augmentations each month and thousands of Brazilian butt lifts per year. A breast augmentation at Roxy Plastic Surgery costs $6,600, while “mommy makeover” treatments, which typically include a breast augmentation, stomach tuck, and liposuction, can cost between $15,000 and $20,000, she said.
Grawe amassed a sizable social media following during this time on TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram. She switched to TikTok after years of live-streaming sections of her patients’ surgeries on Snapchat in the hopes of “breaking down this scary wall between doctors and patients.” Patients signed consent forms authorising “Dr. Roxy” to live-stream their procedures in order to help demystify the mystery surrounding surgery, she added.
“The stuff we do there is a little bit educational and answering people’s questions, but it’s also a little fun and silly,” Grawe explained. “And I know some people think it’s unprofessional.”
In a letter written in 2018, the Ohio medical board advised Grawe about live-streaming her surgeries, warning her about “the need to maintain patient privacy when sharing photos or videos via social media.” Following another letter from the board in 2021, Grawe informed the state that she had attended remedial education courses in plastic surgery and “professionalism/ethics,” including one on “ethical social media.” According to the board, she continued to live-stream the surgeries until at least October of last year.
“The one thing that is clear is that she had an intense focus on her TikTok presence,” Arnold told the Columbus ABC affiliate WSYX in May. “I understand that there appears to have been an excessive amount of attention paid to her TikTok presence, and I am told that many patients who went to her did so because of her TikTok presence.”
In November, she was suspended. Between December 2020 and March 2022, the three cases referenced by the board in its conclusion were live-streamed.
Following Grawe performed liposuction and a Brazilian butt lift on a patient under anaesthesia in December 2020, the patient reported significant abdominal pain and cramps, forcing her to have several stomach procedures. A year later, a woman who underwent breast augmentation was taken to the hospital for what turned out to be an infection that necessitated the removal of her breast implants. Another patient who had returned in March 2022 for follow-up cosmetic operations, including liposuction, was hospitalised a few days later with a ruptured gut. According to the report, the patient had bacterial infections in her belly as well as loss of cognitive function as a result of the toxins identified in her blood.
Grawe asked the board for forgiveness, saying, “I ask you from the bottom of my heart to please consider my thoughts with an open mind.” More than you can imagine, this has humbled me… I am willing to alter my social media habits.”
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The board of directors, however, rejected the surgeon’s claim, stating that “Dr. Grawe’s social media was more important to her than the lives of the patients she treated.” According to the Columbus Dispatch, Grawe “made major surgeries with potentially life-altering complications seem like one big party,” according to a state lawyer arguing for Grawe’s licence to be suspended.
“Can she go back and practise, correcting herself?” According to USA Today, another member of the medical board is Yeshwant P. Reddy. “No, no, I don’t think so.”
The plastic surgeon said she is unsure if she would appeal, blaming the board for a “rigged” system that “turned my world pretty ugly.” Grawe said she has had to let go of 20 people since her business collapsed in November and has been scrambling for any form of work now that she can no longer practise in Ohio.
“These potential employers see my résumé, and it says doctor, and they’re like, ‘What are you going to do?'” she explained to The Washington Post. “I intended what I did on TikTok to make people smile and feel happy.
“It doesn’t mean I’m not paying attention to my patients.”