Plastic surgeon goes after lawyer behind series of negligence lawsuits

Two years ago, a woman sued Glendale plastic surgeon Dr. Bradley Becker, accusing him of drunkenly botching her surgery. That lawsuit was quickly followed by two more from two other women making similar claims. Some of the women shared their stories with Phoenix New Times, and several national publications — including Fox News, The New York Post and People Magazine — covered the allegations.

Two years later, those cases have all crumbled. One of the women dropped her suit, while two others signed statements recanting their accusations. One of the women — Wendy Ellsworth, whose lawsuit set off the saga — agreed to a $1 million judgment that found she defamed Becker, though the financial penalty is not being enforced.

Becker says the accusations, which he denied at the time, have cost him a significant amount of business and nearly ruined his plastic surgery practice, which is based in the West Valley. Becker is now suing attorney Robert Gregory, who represented his accusers and brought their lawsuits. 

Becker claims that Gregory goaded the women into pursuing the lawsuits in the hopes of a quick payout, and is suing for malicious prosecution and false light invasion of privacy. Per the lawsuit, texts “indicate that Gregory pressured Ellsworth to go forward regardless of the facts, stating he would not take the case unless multiple women made allegations against Becker.”

The lawsuit, which was filed on behalf of Becker by attorney Lance Entrekin, claims that from 2022 to 2025, the surgeon “suffered income loss well into 7 figures, even as asset prices dramatically increased in Arizona.” It also says that Becker “was also denied employment at two surgery centers, based on these false allegations.”

In an interview with New Times, Entrekin said patients have steered away from Becker’s practice as a result of the lawsuits.

“He was booked out for 52 weeks for several years. He is now booked out a week,” the lawyer said. “He’s had over 200 people say, ‘Hey, yeah, I did a Google search on you and I think I’m gonna go elsewhere. Thanks.’”

Neither Gregory nor the women who sued Becker — several of whom previously spoke to New Times in detail about their experiences — have responded to requests for comment.

The lawsuit saga

New Times first reported on the lawsuits against Becker, which form the basis for his current claim, in December 2023.

At that time, only two of the three women — Ellsworth and Alicia Armijo — had filed suit against the surgeon. In an interview for that story, Ellsworth told New Times she felt like “Frankenstein” as a result of the $16,000 breast reduction and tummy tuck surgery performed on her in 2021, which she claimed Becker drunkenly botched. Armijo told New Times that she knew “for a fact” that she smelled lingering alcohol on Becker’s breath before her surgery earlier that year, saying Becker’s demeanor reminded her of how her alcoholic father acted after a night of drinking.

Both women have since recanted in legal documents. 

Armijo dropped her suit against Becker in March 2024, signing a statement taking back her earlier claims about his botching her 2023 tummy tuck surgery, which she said cost $12,000. “My statements were taken to imply Dr. Becker was intoxicated while performing my surgery and that he botched the procedure,” she wrote. “However, I do not believe Dr. Becker was drunk. Instead, I was very nervous and smells I experienced triggered thoughts from my childhood that were likely not accurate.” 

Ellsworth claimed to New Times that Armijo reached out to her in a Facebook support group. In her sworn declaration, Armijo said that Ellsworth encouraged her to file a lawsuit for financial reasons, quoting Ellsworth as telling her the suit would “never go to trial.” Entrekin shared text messages with New Times show that in April 2023, a month after Armijo’s surgery and six months before she filed her lawsuit, she actually texted a member of Becker’s staff to say the results of her surgery were “getting better by the day” and that she was “so grateful to Dr. Becker.”

Ellsworth also recanted. “I publicly made statements which implied that Dr. Becker was drunk when performing my surgery without knowing this to be true,” she wrote in a sworn declaration submitted to the court on Oct. 10. “I should not have made those statements and hereby retract them. I further retract all public comments, in all forms, regarding Dr. Bradley Becker and Dr. Bradley Becker Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery relating to the surgeries I had.”

A retraction was apparently not enough for Becker, who ultimately got Ellsworth to agree to accept a $1 million defamation judgment on Oct. 17 of this year as part of settlement talks. Entrekin said the dollar amount is not being enforced.

“He had her counsel, with her approval, stipulate to a million-dollar defamation judgment against her but that he would choose not to enforce it — which he didn’t,” Entrekin told New Times. “They said, ‘Look, we want to settle — she doesn’t have a ton of money or anything like that.’”

Another lawyer for Becker wrote to Maricopa County Judge Christopher Whitten on Oct. 29 that the $1 million judgment was considered “fully satisfied” and that Ellsworth — who had previously told New Times she was in dire financial straits after undergoing a $25,000 corrective surgery — was discharged from any duty to pay that money.

A third lawsuit against Becker was filed by a woman named Julie Culton in January 2024. Culton had claimed that she paid Becker $13,400 for a breast lift, liposuction and revision of a tummy tuck scar from a prior surgery, but that Becker had not performed the breast lift and that the other two procedures “were either not done or were done in such a way as to give the appearance they were not done.” Unlike Ellsworth and Armijo, she did not claim Becker was drunk.

Culton’s suit was dismissed in June of that year.

‘Massive and ongoing’ impact

Entrekin said the lawsuit campaign against Becker has a “massive and ongoing” impact on Becker’s practice. 

At least five women previously showed New Times that they had filed complaints against Becker to the Arizona Board of Osteopathic Examiners in Medicine, which certified Becker. The board has not issued any discipline against Becker, according to its webpage of recent actions taken against doctors, and told New Times that it does not reveal information about either ongoing investigations or if no action was taken.

In February 2024, the lawsuits and New Times’ reporting also prompted Gov. Katie Hobbs to order Arizona’s 22 health care licensing boards to explain how they investigate complaints and discipline the health care providers they oversee.

“Reporting by the Arizona Republic and Phoenix New Times has called my attention to the significant risk to protect health and safety that result from insufficient public insight into licensing board decision making processes and outcomes,” Hobbs wrote at the time.

Becker’s new suit blames Gregory, the lawyer who represented the women, for putting all of that in motion.

In his suit, Becker says he does not drink alcohol and last had a drink during a toast at a 2010 wedding. It also claims Gregory did not review medical records or consult with qualified experts before filing the suit, which Entrekin said is required by law.

The suit also faults Gregory for claims he made in court in February 2024. Gregory alleged that Ellsworth and Armijo were being stalked by cars outside their homes and that he had received a threatening phone call from an unknown number. Gregory and the women sought a restraining order against Becker as a result, though the surgeon denied any involvement. Gregory eventually stepped away from representing the women and was discharged by the court in August 2024.

Entrekin told New Times that Becker has also filed a complaint against Gregory with the State Bar of Arizona that “essentially repeat(s) these allegations” in the lawsuit. Gregory has responded to that bar complaint, Entrekin said, though Entrekin said he could not provide further details. The complaint is not visible on the bar’s website.

As the lawsuit notes, Gregory has been previously suspended by the bar, which the state bar website confirms. In 2008, the bar suspended Gregory for 30 days and placed him on probation for a year after he improperly managed client payments that were intended for expert witnesses.