Who is Katharine Roxanne Grawe? TikTok plastic surgeon who livestreamed dangerous surgeries fights to regain license
POWELL, OHIO: An Ohio plastic surgeon is trying to get her medical license restored after she was banned from medicine for livestreaming her surgeries and botching her work. In November 2022, the state medical board found that Dr Katharine Roxanne Grawe had violated standard procedures. She was subsequently struck off.
Grawe was popularly known on social media as 'Dr Roxy' and many patients came to her after watching her TikToks. The doctor, in one of her videos, said she livestreamed her surgeries because it was fun for patients who later got to watch the procedures.
READ MORE
Live-streaming plastic surgeon has license suspended over botched surgeries, privacy violation
Grawe claimed that she always asked permission. However, the state medical board said it was inappropriate to share the videos and that her full attention should be on the surgeries. While Grawe did have many fans, four women are suing her over complications following their surgeries.
Back in 2021, the state medical board warned Grawe about live streaming her surgeries. They asked her to go for remedial education courses related to plastic surgery complications, ethics, and professionalism, and yet, she continued to live stream the surgeries.
"Aspects of these productions include, but are not limited to, preoperative photos, preoperative interviews with patients about their bodies, livestreams of procedures, postoperative still images of patients taken in the operating room, and the cost of the procedure," the notice addressed to Grawe reads, according to Daily Mail. "During some videos/live-streams you engage in dialogue to respond to viewers' online questions while the surgical procedure remains actively ongoing," it further said
Who is Katharine Roxanne Grawe?
Grawe's LinkedIn bio reads, "My practice, ROXY Plastic Surgery, specializes in cosmetic surgery of the face, breast and body. I also enjoy spending time with my husband, playing with my children, reading, traveling and painting. I have one passion and that is helping women look and feel beautiful. The team at ROXY Plastic Surgery and I are committed to working extensively with each patient so they are completely satisfied with their new look. Our goal is to always ensure our patients become on the outside how beautiful they feel on the inside."
"Plastic surgery isn't just for women, which is exactly why I offer men the opportunity to look and feel younger with surgical and non-surgical procedures tailored just for them. The Men's Room at ROXY Plastic Surgery offers procedures such as gynecomastia surgery, male abdominoplasty and pectoralis implants while also providing non-surgical treatments like hair transplants, and platelet-rich plasma therapy," it continues.
It adds, "Surgery may not be for everyone, but feeling beautiful is! The ROX Med Spa is the perfect getaway to refresh your mind and your skin. The ROXY Med Spa specializes in skin care treatments and beauty secrets such as permanent cosmetics. The staff at ROXY Plastic Surgery and I strive to be personable, kind, and caring, and our #1 goal is to make your experience at ROXY Plastic Surgery comfortable, informative, and fun!"
Graw's LinkedIn profile says she works at ROXY Plastic Surgery and is the owner of ROXY Med SPA. She went to Southern Methodist University, The University of Texas Medical Branch, and The Ohio State University College of Medicine.
When Katharine Roxanne Grawe's license was revoked?
The board revoked Grawe's license in 2022, claiming there was "clear and convincing" evidence that her practices were "a danger of immediate and serious harm to the public." The board cited one case where a nurse practitioner at Roxy Plastic Surgery sent a patient to the emergency room less than a week after receiving liposuction, a Brazilian butt lift, and a skin-tightening procedure from Grawe.
Medical staff found that the patient was suffering from hepatic encephalopathy, in which there is a loss of brain function when a damaged liver is unable to remove toxins from the blood. A part of the process had been live-streamed by Grawe, the board said.
The board claimed Grawe was looking into the camera and speaking while she performed liposuction on the patient's abdomen. They said it was evident that she was distracted from the surgery. "Despite liposuction being a blind surgery that requires awareness of the tip of the cannula (thin tube) to avoid injury, your attention to the camera meant at those moments you were not looking at the patient or palpating the location of the tip of the cannula," the suspension notice reads.
Grawe's attorney Sabrina Sellers said her client's social media cannot be a reason for a patient's post-surgery complications. "She will tell you that although three patients did experience adverse outcomes, that there were known risks and complications of the procedures and they were not caused by a breach in the standard of care," Sellers said, adding, "The reason she places those videos out into the public, are to relate to her patients. It's to educate, relate and demystify. She has nothing to hide."