Atlanta

Anesthesiologist seen in videos with “dancing doctor” sued for not stopping it

ATLANTA — A metro doctor lost her medical license following a series of Channel 2 Action News investigations after videos showed her dancing in the operating room with patients on the table.

Now, the other doctor who was in the room during some of the videos is facing a civil lawsuit in Fulton County.

Videos of Dr. Windell Boutte dancing in the operating room while her patients were anesthetized went viral in 2018. Boutte claimed the videos were supposed to serve as marketing for her practice.

But the videos then went viral on social media, and the plaintiffs in this new case allege that every new view is painful for the patient.

Channel 2 investigative reporter Justin Gray learned that the case is not focusing on physical injuries the patient suffered, but the patients’ mental health.

The new lawsuit focuses on anesthesiologist Dr. Roland Pinkney, who was in the room with Boutte when the videos were filmed.

He’s now the defendant in the civil trial this week in Fulton County Court.

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“At any time in this video, did you voice disagreement with what she was doing?” the plaintiff’s attorney, Jen Jordan, asked Pinkney on the stand.

“No ma’am,” he answered.

Boutte’s medical license was suspended, and she was ordered to pay six-figure restitution to patients after a series of malpractice suits tied to botched surgeries.

Latoya Rideau is one of those patients in the videos.

“It never goes away. I mean, I think about it every day,” Rideau testified to the jury.

She has filed suit against Pinkney for his role in all this alleging negligence, because Pinkney never spoke up or stepped in.

“That was this doctor, Dr. Pinkney, dancing over this lady, over her naked body, during what was supposed to have been a serious surgery,” attorney Susan Witt said.

Pinkney counters that while he knew marketing videos were being filmed, he thought patients had consented and claims he’s not responsible for any wrongdoing or negligence.

“There was no time during that video when I felt like I degraded Ms. Rideau,” Pinkney said in court this week.

“My kids, they would come home, ‘They are making fun of you mom. It was on the news,’” Rideau said.

Jurors are currently deliberating in the case.

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