An Orange County plastic surgeon, who calls himself “Dr. Laguna,” is now facing additional felony battery charges as well as another accusation by the California medical board filed on Aug. 25. Until his criminal case concludes, he is prevented by court order from performing any surgery that requires general anesthesia.
NBC4 Investigates has tracked developments involving Dr. Arian Mowlavi over the past three years. Dozens of patients have accused the doctor of botching their surgeries. Mowlavi has denied all allegations.
The latest filing by the medical board against Mowlavi cites 18 additional patients.
One of the patients, Millie Martini, recalled feeling ashamed and sickened the morning of her surgery in August 2022.
“They proceed to say, ‘Go to the surgery room,’ which was next door, without any clothes. I was naked,” Martini told NBCLA in December 2022.
She said she couldn’t back out of the surgery because she would have lost the nearly $20,000 she had already paid.
According to the latest accusation filed by the medical board, more than a dozen other women experienced treatment similar to Martini’s under the care of Mowlavi.
The causes for discipline range from gross negligence to general unprofessional conduct. They also include allegations, stating that he “lifted her breasts with his hands … marked her unclothed body for surgery in presence of other men … pressed his body against her body as he conducted his examination” while repeatedly noting “no female chaperone was present.”
For many of the women cited in the accusation, the apparent feelings of embarrassment were followed by post-surgery infection.
Martini’s case was particularly severe.
“My nipples are detached; They’re black they’re oozing black,” Martini recalled in 2022.
Medical records show ER doctors diagnosed her with sepsis and necrotic tissue requiring immediate surgery. She awoke to a double mastectomy performed by Mowlavi.
The accusation notes Mowlavi “inappropriately dissected breast tissue from both breasts causing vascular injury and bilateral necrosis of the breasts.”
As NBC4 Investigates has reported, Martini was unaware that just three months before her surgery, Mowlavi had agreed to a suspension of his medical license related to the death of a patient in 2018. But information about his pending suspension was not yet public, and it did not take effect until October 2022.
Five months after Millie’s operation, Mowlavi’s office and surgery center were raided by Laguna Beach police.
A civil suit including more than 30 patients was settled for $6 million in 2023, without Mowlavi acknowledging wrongdoing.
But Martini’s case is still pending, and she says she is financially strained.
“I have thousands and thousands, tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills and future medical bills,” Martini said. “By the end of the day, I’m scared this is never going to get settled.”
As Mowlavi’s separate criminal case for felony battery continues in Orange County, his initial defense attorney was replaced by a public defender when Mowlavi told the court he couldn’t afford to pay. He’s had three attorneys since then.
NBCLA reached out for comments to both his criminal attorney and the lawyer who handles his civil cases but did not get a response.
Last month, two additional criminal charges were added by the Orange County district attorney for felony battery. Martini said she is one of those Jane Does in the criminal case. Mowlavi has pleaded not guilty.
“For me, it’s like my truth is finally coming out,” Martini said. “I have so much evidence, and I am so happy that I am finally being seen and heard.”
Martini hopes sharing her story will lead to meaningful change.
It’s been five years since Nowlavi settled for $1 million after a patient’s death. But it took more than four years after that death for the suspension of his medical license, a suspension that lasted just 90 days.
“I can’t believe he is still practicing,” Martini said. “I hope the medical board sees this case as something that needs to be changed, you know especially with all these victims.”
In addition to the most recent accusation by the medical board involving 18 patients, Mowlavi is scheduled to face an administrative law in December. That hearing is based on a different accusation involving four other patients.
At least one other lawsuit involving a patient is set for trial next year, and the civil case filed by the Orange County district attorney’s office is on hold until the criminal trial is finished.
Mowlavi continues to deny all charges against him.
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Source: NBC Los Angeles
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