Cosmetician Faces Trial for Unethical Practice, Hoarding Human Tissue
Dr. Anne Litton White has been accused of unethical practice, including reusing syringes and dermatological products on numerous patients undergoing procedures at White’s Carolina Laser and Cosmetic Center. She has also been accused of providing approval to keep small plastic bags of human fat and blood drawn from liposuction surgeries for months at a time.
White is currently standing trial during which she and her defense attorney adamantly denied the allegations of five former employees at the center. The defense team responded to testimony, indicating there is no credible evidence and the statements were given by disgruntled ex-employees.
On May 7, a summary suspension of the doctor’s medical license was approved with the licensing board citing “unprofessional conduct” under state law which put patients in a detrimental position. On May 16, however, a Wake Superior Court judge approved a request for a temporary restraining order filed by White’s attorneys which allowed her to continue to practice leading up to the hearing date.
Of the employee’s allegations that White was reusing syringes, she said, “The first I learned of it was when I received the notice about my license being suspended. Reusing syringes is not a good practice. It’s not in my character to do any such thing.” When she received the notice at her office, White immediately looked the investigator “in the eyes and told him ‘none of this is true” according to her defense team.
During opening remarks, Brian Blankenship, the medical board’s assistant general counsel stated that testimony and evidence would both support “immoral and dishonorable conduct.” Defense attorneys Dan Blue II and Dan Blue III fired back that their client “is not a Frankenstein of a monster of a doctor” and that these are “outrageous claims.”
Blue acknowledged that White “is demanding and expects the absolute best from her employees,” stating “if they fail her, she may respond with a sharp tongue,” and therefore suggesting there could be some animosity between White and her employees which would cause them to disparage her. He summed up his argument by claiming “none of this happened” and “there is no credible evidence.”
White also faces a hearing in the fall that will center on an end of 2017 notice listing several other unethical charges and allegations against her. The notice indicated White had 40 containers of expired medication in hand that were more than ten years old, used the assistance of an unlicensed physician during a medical procedure, and burned a patient who wanted a tattoo removed because the setting on a laser was too high.
White’s former employees testified they received little, if any, training prior to administering procedures and many had left the practice over concerns of personal liability or losing their nursing licenses over unethical practicing. Three former employees testified that as many as 30 suction cups containing liposuction residue were kept in a non-biohazard cardboard box. The leftover human tissue smelled terribly, yet White did nothing to discard it.
White said she never received patient complaints about a smell and she relied on the help of her office staff to properly remove the tissue. “I would have no incentive to have smelling fat in my back office,” White said. “Stinky fat scent is not consistent with a beautiful cosmetic office.”
Sources:
Attorney: White is ‘not a Frankenstein’
Winston-Salem doctor accused of reusing syringes and keeping human fat in closet is back at work
Join the conversation!