A Houston plastic surgeon is facing four malpractice lawsuits filed within the past year, after two of his patients died and a third suffered a brain injury from lack of oxygen during procedures at his Montrose-neighborhood clinic. Dr. Dare Ajibade, who runs DVA Plastic Surgery, currently holds active medical licenses in seven states and has been licensed in nine states total to practice medicine, even as the lawsuits pile up across Texas and Virginia.
The most severe allegations involve two women who died in the days following procedures performed by Ajibade. According to a lawsuit filed by attorney Peter Anderson on behalf of Susan Easley's family, as detailed by KTRK-TV Houston, Easley's May 2024 surgery lasted from 8:30 a.m. until 3:04 p.m., and she was allegedly given lidocaine exceeding safe dosing parameters before being prematurely discharged while complaining of nausea and vomiting. The Washington, D.C. medical examiner ruled that Easley suffered sudden cardiac death in the setting of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease following laser-assisted liposuction with autologous fat transfer, dying on May 13, 2024.
A Career Veteran's Final Days
Easley, 59, was a veteran U.S. Agency for International Development executive who had managed African AIDS programs during her career, according to KFF Health News. Her procedure took place not in Houston but at an Elite Body Sculpture clinic in Vienna, Virginia — one of several corporate cosmetic-surgery chains where Ajibade has worked in addition to his private Houston practice, per KFF Health News and Sono Bello. She died just four days later, her body discovered in a Washington, D.C. rental unit. Virginia law required the family's legal team to obtain a signed expert opinion certifying a standard-of-care deviation before the lawsuit could even be served, a mandatory step under Virginia Code § 8.01-20.1 designed to screen out unsupported medical claims, as outlined by Virginia Law.
A second death occurred closer to home. Adebola Britt suffered cardiac arrest in the recovery room after liposuction, according to the family's attorney, Donna Aversano, whom the family retained after Britt died five days after her procedure on November 12, 2025. The Harris County Medical Examiner ruled her cause of death was sudden death following surgical abdominoplasty and liposuction procedures. Britt's family has not filed a civil lawsuit, though the case adds to the pattern of severe outcomes tied to Ajibade's practice.
Survivors Describe Lasting Injuries
Not every patient died, but some were left with permanent damage. Junis Maldonado, 27, suffered a brain injury from lack of oxygen after experiencing multiple seizures and cardiopulmonary arrest during a liposuction procedure in May, according to her lawsuit. She now relies on a tracheostomy and feeding tube. That case followed a 911 call on November 7, 2025, that reported a patient was not breathing at DVA Plastic Surgery in Houston.
Rosa Caldera filed a malpractice lawsuit against Ajibade in July 2026 after paying $15,000 for liposuction with him in 2024. Caldera claims her surgery lasted 10 hours and alleges she suffered a third-degree stomach burn requiring skin graft surgery. She was transported from the Montrose clinic to a hospital by ambulance, admitted to the intensive care unit, and released two days later — but says her physical recovery lasted a full year.
Regulatory Record and Legal Response
Ajibade's own former business partner has accused him of engaging in unsafe medical practices resulting in patient harm and failing to maintain accurate medical records, according to the KTRK-TV report. Separately, the Texas Medical Board has a public document listing a liposuction procedure that did not conform to the standard of care; Ajibade settled that complaint with a fine and continuing education. Under Texas Medical Board rules, such a remedial plan is legally classified as a non-disciplinary agreement that cannot restrict a physician's license or assess administrative fines beyond what was negotiated, though it does impose corrective requirements like passing the state jurisprudence exam, per the Texas Medical Board's own regulations.
Both Texas and Virginia state codes require an unrelated doctor to review malpractice claims and provide a written report before a case can proceed — a bar plaintiffs in the Caldera, Maldonado, Easley and related cases have had to clear. In Texas specifically, Section 74.351 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code requires that report be served within 120 days of a defendant's answer or the case faces mandatory dismissal, according to the Texas statutes governing medical liability claims. Ajibade also faces two additional civil suits over unpaid medical equipment, and has denied performing negligent surgery in his court response to the pending lawsuits.
Cases Now Span Multiple Texas Counties
The legal pressure has expanded geographically. Attorney Beth Janicek filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against Ajibade in San Antonio in June, pushing active litigation beyond Harris County into Bexar County, according to Janicek Law. Ajibade has also worked at a Sono Bello clinic in San Antonio and practices in Miami, Florida, in addition to his Houston base — a footprint that spans corporate chains and private practice alike. Following public reports of the lawsuits, Texas law firms launched outreach campaigns in August inviting anyone who underwent procedures with Ajibade at DVA Plastic Surgery between 2022 and 2025 to submit medical records for potential claims, per Janicek Law.
DVA Plastic Surgery's Google listing still shows a 5.0-star rating despite the mounting litigation. Ajibade holds an MD, PhD and MPH from Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, completed a general surgery residency there, and finished a plastic surgery fellowship at Temple University Hospital followed by an aesthetic fellowship at North Texas Plastic Surgery, according to his credentials listed by Sono Bello. Both Ajibade and a clinic spokesperson have said patient safety is their highest priority, KTRK-TV reported.
The Easley case fits into a wider pattern documented in a 2025 investigation by KFF Health News and NBC News, which found a growing national trend of severe patient injuries, local anesthetic toxicity, and wrongful death lawsuits linked to high-volume outpatient cosmetic surgery chains. None of the pending cases against Ajibade have reached a final verdict. ABC13 has said it will broadcast a Texas Medical Board investigation report as part of its 13 Investigates series at 10 p.m. Tuesday.
