Patient says she woke up from surgery in hotel room with sandwich in hand

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Sisters file malpractice lawsuits 

Witt is also representing sisters Kristine Dolly and Mitzi McFarland.

"How did you feel when you looked at yourself in the mirror?” Strickland asked Dolly. “Horrified. Like, 'What have I done to myself?” she replied. McFarland said her abdomen looks like something out of a horror movie. 

The sisters said they were each expecting a procedure called SmartLipo, an upscale technique in which a laser is used to remove fat. Through the course of their case against the doctor, they learned Boutte actually performed conventional liposuction.

When McFarland later went to Boutte for a “revision” procedure, she was told she would not be heavily sedated and would not need a ride home. McFarland said she woke up the next morning in a hotel near the doctor’s office.

“I was put to sleep, and then I woke up some 18 hours later in the hotel bedroom with a McDonald’s sandwich in my hand, one bite out of it,” McFarland said. She also showed Strickland a receipt from her hotel stay on which her name was misspelled as “Mitzy." McFarland believes Boutte forged her signature. 

In a deposition, Lee Brown, an employee of Boutte said she and the doctor drove McFarland to the hotel. She also said Boutte would have handled the check-in. 

Brown is listed on the website as the clinical nurse manager with over 20 years' experience in the nursing profession. Brown is not a registered nurse, and did not complete nursing school. In a deposition, Boutte said she did not think Brown’s title was misleading.  

“I’m angry and I’m appalled they would allow her to continue to operate under these circumstances,” McFarland said. 

Is Boutte misleading potential clients?

Boutte’s website states “Dr. Boutté is board certified in both surgery and dermatology.” According to state medical records, Boutte is a board-certified dermatologist and is not board-certified in general surgery or plastic surgery. In Georgia, it is legal for any physician to perform operations, even if they are not a board-certified surgeon.

“When you are licensed to practice medicine in Georgia, you’re licensed to practice medicine and surgery. It says so right on your license,” said Dr. Dan DeLoach, a board-certified plastic surgeon and chair of the Georgia Composite Medical Board.

“I do think there is a minority, a tiny minority of physicians who are practicing beyond their scope,” DeLoach said. He would not comment on Boutte directly because of the medical board’s strict confidentiality rules. 

DeLoach denied the board is slow to move on investigations into licensed doctors. “You don’t want to rush to judgement and end up making an error that could be very professionally harmful,” he said. 

Of five recent settlements Boutte reached, Strickland learned only two are listed on her state medical profile.  

McFarland and Dolly are frustrated by the lack of action. “Somebody needs to hold her accountable,” McFarland said.   

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