Radiologist has license revoked following 'botched' cosmetic procedures

The State Medical Board of Ohio has revoked a radiologist’s license to practice medicine after reports revealed the doctor botched multiple cosmetic procedures and other out-of-scope surgeries. 

Wade Banker, MD, a radiologist who practiced in Maumee, Ohio, is said to have rendered “inappropriate care” to 15 patients between 2014 and 2018, according to the State Medical Board of Ohio’s report. Banker, a diagnostic radiologist with a subspecialty in interventional radiology, is reported to have been treating patients for a range of conditions, including hypogonadism, obesity, erectile dysfunction and hormonal imbalances. 

According to the report, Banker conducted cosmetic procedures or surgery on some of these patients. Nyjai Beal, who sought cosmetic surgery from Banker, claims that while she was under local anesthesia during her tummy tuck, the radiologist removed her bellybutton (standard procedure during the surgery) and showed it to her mid-operation. 

"It was weird because when I was on the table, he took my belly button off and he showed it to me and I turned my head away because I was like, 'Why would you show somebody that?'" Beal shared in an interview with a local news station in Toledo, Ohio. 

Beal indicated that Banker never disclosed to her that he was not a plastic surgeon. 

"Why are you, a radiologist, doing a tummy tuck? How do you even know how to do this?" she said. 

Another procedure resulted in a patient being sent to the emergency department with severe burns stemming from laser treatment and liposuction gone awry; and there also was an incident in which a patient required CPR during surgery after they repeatedly lost consciousness. The report also revealed that Banker conducted breast augmentations.

These instances all occurred as a result of Banker’s failure to properly obtain a thorough and accurate medical history, the report noted. He also is accused of not fully documenting patient treatments, failure to follow-up postoperatively, inadequate monitoring of patients’ medications and inappropriate prescribing. 

The patients alleged to have been subject to the radiologist’s “inappropriate care” were seeing him through Luxe Laser Center—a medical spa owned by Banker. 

A representative of the center released a prepared statement notifying the public that Banker is “vigorously” disputing the board’s actions.