An Orange County plastic surgeon who calls himself “Dr. Laguna” has reached a $6 million settlement with dozens of former patients who claim they were the victims of horribly botched procedures and medical negligence.
Dr. Arian Mowlavi has agreed to end civil lawsuits brought by around three-dozen former patients with a settlement that will be paid by his insurance company, according to a filing from the doctor in a bankruptcy case.
The former patients made a host of allegations against Mowlavi, including the use of unlicensed technicians to help perform surgeries, the degrading treatment of disrobed women and the hard-selling of unnecessary procedures.
Mowlavi — whose medical license was briefly suspended after the death of a patient — was called “a danger to the community” by the chief of the plastic surgery department at a south Orange County hospital.
A canny self-promoter who markets himself on Instagram, Mowlavi claims to be “well regarded as a world renowned face, body and breast sculpture” who has “performed over 15,000 procedures.”
In his own court filings, Mowlavi has denied being responsible for any misconduct or medical malpractice and has accused his accusers of trying to destroy his career. Most of the civil cases have already been dismissed following the settlement, Orange County Superior Court records show.
But the former patients who sued Mowlavi described unexpected medical side effects from their procedures that left some hospitalized with at-times life-threatening ailments and others in medical debt and unable to work.
The settlement doesn’t end all of Mowlavi’s legal issues.
A civil lawsuit filed against Mowlavi by the Orange County District Attorney’s Office that echoes many of the allegations by the doctor’s former patients while also accusing him of unlawful business practices remains active.
Mowlavi is also facing an ongoing criminal investigation, according to legal filings from the DA’s office…
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