A Miami doctor who seriously injured patients during procedures has regained the right to practice medicine Monday during an appeal to the Florida medical board's final order to revoke his license.
Doctor Osakatukei Omulepu allegedly serious injured two different patients on the same day on May, 2015, by puncturing their organs during surgeries for liposuction and so-called Brazilian butt lift surgeries. Omulepu also injured two additional patients in the same month after failing to use the correct amount of local anesthesia during procedures.
Officials imposed an emergency restriction on Omulepu's medical license in February, 2016. The Florida Board of Medicine then revoked Omulepu's license in April of this year.
But after an appeal, a three-judge panel for Florida’s First District Court of Appeals in Tallahassee agreed to grant the doctor’s request to delay the revocation of his license.
According to a report by the Miami Herald, Omulepu's attorney, Monica Felder Rodriguez, said on Monday that the doctor is allowed to go back to his practice (Monday), and work with no restrictions.
Rodriguez said the appeals process could take as long as a year, but that the state medical board could choose to reconsider its action and impose a different penalty on Omulepu than revoking his license indefinitely.