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Surgeon loses medical license after streaming surgeries on TikTok

Dr. Katharine Roxanne Grawe, also known as "Dr. Roxy," was first warned by the board in 2018 about patient privacy and possible ethics violations.
Dr. Katherine Roxanne Grawe.
Posted at 1:25 PM, Jul 13, 2023

A plastic surgeon in Ohio has permanently lost her license after it was determined she was harming patients while livestreaming their surgeries on TikTok.

The Ohio Medical Board voted on Wednesday to revoke the licensure of Dr. Katharine Roxanne Grawe, formerly known as Dr. Roxy on TikTok, for neglecting patients as she livestreamed parts of the surgeries while simultaneously reading and answering fans’ questions. The board also gave her a $4,500 fine "based on her failure to meet standard of care," the board told Scripps News in a statement.

Grawe has not been able to practice medicine since 2022, when the board suspended her license and subjected her to medical courses on professionalism and ethics after at least three patients experienced complications after seeing her for cosmetic surgery.

According to the board’s notice, one unnamed patient had to be hospitalized days after receiving a tummy tuck, Brazilian butt-lift, and liposuction because she had a perforated small bowel and a soft tissue infection.

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A second patient was also found to have six intestinal cuts and multiple tears in the bowel wall, which required the removal of a part of the small intestine and partial removal of abdominal tissue.

The third unnamed patient mentioned in the notice received a breast augmentation with silicone implants. Days later, the patient complained of bleeding from her chest. She was then hospitalized for having a faster than normal heart rate. A general surgeon had to operate and remove a hematoma from her breasts, along with the implants.

Grawe was first warned by the board in 2018 over concerns about patient privacy and possible ethics violations.

While Grawe's TikTok is now private, it's speculated that at the time of these incidents she had thousands of followers. She has about 118,000 followers on Instagram.