'Dancing doctor' from viral operating room music video isn't a licensed surgeon and left a patient with brain damage

An Atlanta plastic surgeon whose promotional video that showed her performing an elaborate dance routine in the operating room has faced lawsuits over serious medical malpractice, the Atlanta Constitution reports.

The surgeon, Dr. Windell Davis-Boutte, filmed herself in the operating room with assistants as backup dancers working to "Cut It" by O.T. Genasis and Young Dolph.

But Davis-Boutte is not a surgeon, the newspaper found: she is a board-certified dermatologist, and not a board-certified plastic surgeon or general surgeon and her office is not an accredited operating room or licensed surgery center. She has settled five malpractice suits in the last six months, according to Atlanta's Channel 2.

She also recently settled with Icilma Cornelius, 54, who had sought surgery before her wedding and instead ended up suffering brain damage that left her unable to walk or talk after being put on a "cocktail" of drugs that were meant to substitute for general anesthesia.

Cornelius endured eight hours of surgery in Boutte’s medical office. Her heart stopped and because the office was not able to handle the emergency they had to call 911. Boutte was worried about infection from open incisions, she hurriedly closed the incision, the lawsuit alleges. Paramedics had to carry the stretcher down stairs.

In the lawsuit, the attorney said Boutte "cuts corners, uses unqualified staff, misleads patients about the surgeries they will receive, and subjects them to an office that is not safe for the types of surgeries performed."

Boutte has said that she has "10,000" satisfied customers. When she was interviewed about the Cornelius case she said she saved the now-brain damaged patient a lot of money.

“I just wanted to keep her costs down and give her what she needed from a lipo-sculpting standpoint for her wedding. I told her, ‘that's my present to you’.” Boutte said in deposition.

Watch a local TV report on the doctor below.