Atlanta

Woman claims ‘dancing doctor' left her with disfiguring 'joker smile' scar

ATLANTA — A woman said she went to the doctor for a tummy tuck procedure but came back with disfiguring scars.

The doctor she visited, Dr. Windell Boutte has been the subject of multiple Channel 2 Action News reports.

Boutte is facing five malpractice settlements and has four pending lawsuits against her. She previously posted more than 20 videos of herself on YouTube. Some show her dancing and singing with exposed, unmoving patients in the frame.

Warning: This story contains material that some people may find graphic and disturbing.

Gloria Slater told Channel 2 investigative reporter Jim Strickland that Boutte, a board certified dermatologist, performed a tummy tuck four years ago and later contracted an aggressive infection. Slater said Boutte had to do debreeding because the skin had gone into necrosis and to keep it from spreading she had to cut it out.

Slater said Boutte did not use anesthesia and hit live tissue with a scalpel. After a second debreeding, it took a year for the wound to close. She calls the scar her "joker smile."

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When asked what she feels like when she looks in the mirror, Slater said, "Unattractive. Ugly."

Malpractice attorney Chloe Dallaire handled the earlier lawsuit against Boutte that helped uncover the doctor's now infamous YouTube operating room rapping videos.

“It's more of the same that I have seen over the last 2 1/2 years of investigating Boutte,” Dallaire said.

Dallaire broke the news to Slater that her case was past the statute of limitations.

Slater said speaking out brings its own justice.

“I went years feeling like what happened to me didn't matter, nobody cared, that nothing could be done about it, and this actually gives me hope,” Slater said.

Boutte's bare-bottomed patients spread beyond YouTube, she hit Instagram, too. One of the patients reached out to us.

"I specifically went out of my way to make sure my pictures did not end up on social media," said former patient, Monte Jackson.

Jackson said she put N/A on the authorization to make sure no one else could fill in a forgery.

When Strickland asked if there is any consolation to her that her face isn't shown in the video, Jackson said, "No, not at all."

Jackson said she suffered a blood clot that is a Boutte complication. She was billed $29,000 by Boutte's office for four nights in the hospital.

"I think Dr. Boutte is a reckless physician who does not have her patient's best interest in mind," Jackson said.

Channel 2 Action News has not received a response to the voice messages and emails left for Boutte's attorney.

After our investigation aired Wednesday on Channel 2 Action News, Boutte added more malpractice settlements to her state online disclosure.