GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — The Gwinnett dermatologist, whose license was suspended after a Channel 2 Investigation uncovered a string of lawsuits and patient complaints, claimed lawsuits filed against her are racially motivated.
Channel 2 Consumer investigator Jim Strickland obtained audio of Dr. Windell Boutte lashing out at white doctors on the Georgia Composite Medical Board. A would-be patient told Strickland she covertly recorded the conversation two days after he broke the story of Boutte's surgery antics posted on YouTube, and her recent malpractice settlements.
When Chavela Hill confronted Boutte about Channel 2's investigation, the doctor said she was being singled out, while white doctors on the board got a pass.
“The board, as you noticed, declined to remark on any of this because you’ve got some white plastic surgeons on the board that have killed people,” said Boutte on the recording.
Hill met with Boutte days after Channel 2 first reported on the doctor, She said she felt compelled to record the meeting, at which she asked to cancel her surgery and receive a full a refund.
“It's just wrong. It's just wrong,” Chavela Hill told Strickland as tears ran down her cheeks. “Race don't have nothing to do with how she's disfiguring women, and how she's just sitting up here misleading us.”
BOUTTE INVESTIGATION:
- June 7, 2018: Medical board suspends 'dancing doctor' Windell Boutte’s medical license
- June 4, 2018: Woman says dancing doctor left her disfigured while making music video during surgery
- May 23, 2018: Woman claims ‘dancing doctor' left her with disfiguring 'joker smile' scar
- May 22, 2018: Patient says she woke up from surgery in hotel room with sandwich in hand
- May 21, 2018: Doctor who made music videos in operating room facing several malpractice lawsuits
The only plastic surgeon of any ethnicity on the board is its chairman Dan DeLoach, who told Strickland he wouldn't dignify the assertion with a response.
“I think Dr. Boutte is a reckless physician who does not have her patients' best interest in mind,” said attorney Chloe Dallaire, who represents three of the former Boutte patients who were named in the medical board’s suspension order for Boutte.
That recording revealed what Boutte had to say about Dallaire in her meeting with Hill.
“One of those white lawyers is such a redneck, Chloe Dallaire. They’re buddy-buddy with the white plastic surgeons on the boards,” Boutte said on the recording.
Hill, even weeks later, had an emotional response to Boutte’s claims.
“You're a different color, and you're sitting here from the bottom of your heart trying to help me. Race don't have anything to do with that,” she said.
The reason Hill had arranged a meeting with Boutte in the first place was to try and secure a refund for a procedure she had scheduled. Hill called to cancel after watching Channel 2's first investigation into allegations against Boutte. Strickland heard from at least three would-be patients who backed out of procedures with Boutte after his reporting.
But in an interview with Headline News, Boutte said no patients have asked to cancel.
“No one ever came to you and said, ‘I was going to come to you, but I saw the videos and I’m like, uh-uh?’” asked Headline News anchor Mike Galanos. “Never ever, ever,” Boutte responded.
Hill financed more than $8,900 for her procedure, but Boutte denied a refund because the cancellation fell inside Boutte’s 30-day full refund window. Hill lost 50 percent of the cost of her procedure, and a $600 administration fee. She was refunded $3,884.75
Hill said she doesn’t regret taking the financial hit.
“I did not want to get on the table because I was in fear of my life,” Hill said. “She don't care nothing about nothing but money. She's not caring about these women, she's not caring about nothing.”
Cox Media Group
