The Florida Department of Health has filed a new administrative complaint against Miami plastic surgeon Julio Clavijo-Alvarez, the fifth lodged against him since 2022.
A Pattern Dating Back to 2022
Clavijo-Alvarez has now faced five administrative complaints since 2022, according to his Florida Department of Health profile. One complaint from 2024 alleges that a different patient became unresponsive with a possibly fatal irregular heartbeat, and that Clavijo-Alvarez administered 300 milligrams of amiodarone — a drug used to treat irregular heartbeats — before attempting cardiac defibrillation three times.
Three other prior complaints involved pre-signed prescriptions, facility violations at Miami Lakes Cosmetic Surgery, where Clavijo-Alvarez served as the doctor in charge of facility compliance, and a poorly placed drain during a separate Brazilian butt lift. The Florida Board of Medicine settled those three complaints together in 2024, ordering Clavijo-Alvarez to pay a $15,000 fine and $11,085 in case costs. According to Becker's ASC Review, the state allegations in that matter included pre-signed prescription slips for controlled drugs like oxycodone and diazepam found unsecured at New Life Plastic Surgery, bearing his signature but no patient names.
In a 2021 procedure, Clavijo-Alvarez placed a Jackson-Pratt drain beneath a patient's rectus abdominis muscles and into her abdominal cavity during a BBL, requiring emergency hospitalization to remove it, according to MedPage Today.
Licensing and Certification Status
Clavijo-Alvarez is board certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery.
Clavijo-Alvarez did not respond to an email or phone message from the Miami Herald seeking comment on the latest complaint, according to the newspaper's report.
Scrutiny of High-Volume BBL Clinics
The complaint lands amid years of state scrutiny over high-volume, budget cosmetic surgery clinics in South Florida. A Florida House of Representatives legislative staff analysis reported in May 2024 found that South Florida had the highest Brazilian butt lift mortality rate in the nation, with 25 deaths recorded between 2010 and 2022 — 23 of them at high-volume, budget cosmetic clinics, according to the Florida Senate analysis. High patient volume and short surgical times were identified as key contributing factors to those deaths.
A 2019 Florida rule requires BBL fat to be injected only into the subcutaneous layer.
Under Florida Statute Section 458.328, any facility where physicians perform Level II or Level III office surgeries, or liposuction removing more than 1,000 cubic centimeters of fat, must register with the state.
