US Plastic Surgeon, 41, Arrested After Wife Dies During Surgery

The medical board determined that Brown's treatment of his wife was "careless and haphazard".

A 41-year-old plastic surgeon in the United States has been arrested over the death of his wife who went into cardiac arrest on his operating table in November last year. The doctor, identified as Benjamin Brown, was taken into custody on Monday and charged with one count of second-degree felony homicide for alleged manslaughter by culpable negligence in the death of his wife Hillary Ellington Brown. According to The Independent, he turned himself in to the police after a warrant was put out for his arrest on Friday. 

In a press note, the Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office said deputies responded to the 41-year-old's practice, Restore Plastic Surgery, in Florida, for a medical emergency on November 21. Upon arriving at the scene, first responders located a female victim - later identified as Hillary Brown - suffering from cardiac arrest. She was taken to a hospital, where she was put on life support before she was pronounced dead. An autopsy into her death is pending. 

"The autopsy protocol typically takes several months as it usually is dependent on extensive laboratory and toxicology tests as well as the information gathered by our Major Crimes detectives concerning the circumstances of the death," the police department said in a statement.