Third woman sues Phoenix doctor for botched plastic surgery

A third woman has sued plastic surgeon Bradley Becker, accusing him of medical negligence and failing to perform the breast lift, liposuction and revision to a tummy tuck scar she paid him to do.

Julie Culton and her husband, Jay, sued Becker in Maricopa County Superior Court on Jan. 26. Their suit came about four months after Wendy Ellsworth and Alicia Armijo sued Becker, accusing him of performing drunken, botched plastic surgeries. At least five women have filed complaints against Becker to the medical board that licenses him.

According to Culton's lawsuit, Becker breached his duty by failing to provide the “degree of care, skill and learning expected of a reasonable, prudent health care provider.” Culton paid Becker $13,400 for the breast lift, lipo and revision of a tummy tuck scar from a prior surgery, according to the lawsuit.

After the surgery, Culton “observed that Dr. Becker had not performed a breast lift, although he had previously agreed to do so and Plaintiff (Culton) had paid him to do so," the lawsuit stated. "The other two procedures that Dr. Becker had agreed to do — the scar revision and lipo procedure — were either not done or were done in such a way as to give the appearance they were not done.”

The lawsuit claimed that as a result of Becker’s work, Culton has been left significantly disfigured and in need of corrective cosmetic surgery while she has experienced pain and suffering, financial difficulties, anxiety, depression and personal embarrassment. The lawsuit is seeking past and future medical expenses related to the surgery, damages for past and future pain and suffering, and attorneys’ fees and expenses.

“It feels like I just threw almost $15,000 in the trash,” Culton told Phoenix New Times. “I hate the way I look in clothes. It’s depressing, and it sucks. I’m jaded. I don’t have the money to go get it fixed again.”

The suit also claimed that as a result of the surgery, Culton and her husband experienced a “loss of consortium” in their marriage.

Culton said that she learned of Becker through a friend who was pleased with the surgeon’s work. After her own negative experience, she said she thought it would be pointless to try to speak up until reading coverage of the lawsuits from Ellsworth and Armijo. New Times was the first to report the allegations against Becker.

“How does he do such a good job sometimes and such a shitty job sometimes,” Culton asked. “Especially after hearing some of the allegations against him, it does make sense.”

Richard Kent, Becker’s attorney, said he will continue to defend Becker until the case is "dismissed or won in trial."

The first two lawsuits against Bradley Becker

Ellsworth and Armijo sued Becker last fall for medical negligence, battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Both women alleged Becker smelled strongly of alcohol before botching their surgeries.

Ellsworth told New Times the surgery completely altered her personal and social life.

“It’s hard to feel like you can go out when you feel like Frankenstein,” Ellsworth said. “I didn’t go to family parties. I didn’t want to go anywhere. I didn’t want to dress up. If I went anywhere, I would wear really tight undergarments, trying to tuck all the extra skin they didn’t take. The whole point of a tummy tuck is to not have that.”

In his Nov. 17 response to the lawsuit, Becker said he “complied with the standard of care” and that he was not impaired during the surgery.

After filing their lawsuits, Ellsworth and Armijo — along with their attorney, Robert Gregory — said they were on the receiving end of threats, stalking and intimidation that left them concerned about the safety of their families, according to court documents filed on Feb. 15.

In the court filing, both women said they were preparing to seek a restraining order against Becker. But Gregory told New Times that since filing those documents, neither he nor the women have experienced additional threats, so they have not pursued the restraining orders.

Becker denied involvement in the latest allegations in an affidavit filed on Feb. 21.

In a motion for Armijo's case, Gregory wrote that Armijo doesn't want to continue her case while "pursuing her options with the Maricopa Sheriff's Office." Armijo's case was dismissed without prejudice on March 27, which means she can refile the lawsuit in the future.

"The fact is she has no case against my client," Kent said.

In Ellsworth's case, oral arguments about a motion to dismiss the suit are scheduled for June 3.

Five women file complaints with medical board

In addition to the lawsuits, at least five women have filed complaints against Becker to the Arizona Board of Osteopathic Examiners in Medicine and Surgery, the body that licenses plastic surgeons.

In addition Ellsworth, Armijo and Culton, Erin Wing and Michelle Ortiz submitted complaints to the board.

The board does not send copies of complaints to people who file them and did not respond to a request for comment from New Times. But New Times reviewed emails confirming that the board received the complaints.

The women who filed complaints spoke with New Times about their experiences, resulting health complications after their surgeries, dissatisfaction with their results and lasting emotional damage.

Three women said that before their surgeries, Becker acted rushed, strange and “like a different person” than the upbeat man who spoke with them during consultations.

Four of the women said their medical records, written by Becker’s office, contained inaccurate information.

At least four of the women said they did not know until well after their surgeries that Becker’s office manager, Ioana Baragau, was also his girlfriend, a fact confirmed by Becker in court documents. Several also noted in their board complaints they believed Baragau was a nurse because she provided medical advice and care to the women.

"All this time, I thought I was talking to a nurse. And I wasn't," Ellsworth said in October 2023.

When Ellsworth questioned the quality of the operation, she said Baragau became agitated and rude and made angry phone calls to Ellsworth, followed by friendly, encouraging text messages. In interviews with New Times, three other women described receiving similar communications from Baragau.

It is unclear whether Baragau is licensed to provide care; she declined to answer New Times’ questions about her training and licensing. Becker’s court response to the Ellsworth lawsuit said that Baragau is a “trained health care provider.”

On Feb. 15, Gov. Katie Hobbs sent a letter to the osteopathic board and all of Arizona's 22 health care licensing boards expressing "grave concern with a lack of transparency and accountability for health care providers" in Arizona.

“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 in the letter. Hobbs ordered the boards to “develop standardized processes for disciplinary action and law enforcement engagement” and submit them to her office by July 1.

‘Wait a minute. This is Banner’

Surgeries of all five women who spoke to New Times were performed at Banner Surgery Center - Estrella in Phoenix.

Ellsworth said she was convinced the surgery would be fine since it took place at a facility of Banner Health, the largest employer in Arizona.

“I just kept going, ‘Wait a minute. This is Banner. There’s no way Banner would let an inebriated doctor operate on people,’” Ellsworth said.

Banner Health referred New Times’ questions about the three lawsuits and five board complaints to Atlas Healthcare Partners, which runs the surgery center and was formed as a joint venture partnership with Banner in 2018.

Atlas Healthcare said it's aware of the allegations against Becker, according to Dylon MacEachran, vice president of communications for the company.

“We are aware of the allegations brought in the lawsuit against Dr. Becker as he is currently a credentialed provider at Banner Surgery Center – Estrella," MacEachran said in an email. "We monitor the state medical board daily for any actions made regarding all providers credentialed at any of our managed ambulatory surgery centers, and Banner Surgery Center – Estrella follows all surgery center policies and med-staff bylaws as they relate to allegations made against any credentialed provider.”

MacEachran said Atlas had no comment on Baragau since the company does not employ her.