Fifth state complaint since 2022 filed against a Miami plastic surgeon

Health Care admin October 13, 2026 0 Comments

Fifth state complaint since 2022 filed against a Miami plastic surgeon

A Miami plastic surgeon’s response to bleeding during a liposuction and Brazilian butt lift last year has drawn a new Florida Department of Health administrative complaint.

According to his Florida Department of Health online profile, this is the fifth administrative complaint since 2022 filed against Dr. Julio Clavijo-Alvarez, who works mostly out of New Life Plastic Surgery, 8400 SW Eighth St.

Clavijo-Alvarez did not return an email or a phone message from the Miami Herald about this most recent complaint.

Another still-pending 2024 complaint says an unresponsive patient was having a possibly fatal irregular heartbeat, and Clavijo-Alvarez tried 300 milligrams of amiodarone, a drug for treating an irregular heartbeat, before trying cardiac defibrillation three times.

As for the other three complaints, they involved pre-signed prescriptions; facility violations at Miami Lakes Cosmetic Surgery, where Clavijo-Alvarez was the doctor in charge of facility compliance; and a poorly placed drain during a Brazilian butt lift. The Board of Medicine rolled those into one 2024 settlement that ordered Clavijo-Alvarez to pay a $15,000 fine and $11,085 in case costs.

READ MORE: The plastic surgery and prescription violations that’ll cost a Miami doctor $26,000

Clavijo-Alvarez has been licensed in Florida since July 1, 2020. He also held a Pennsylvania license from 2012 until he allowed that license to expire in 2024. The American Board of Plastic Surgery website says he’s been board certified since November 2013 but has had a current status of “Certified: On Probation” since 2024.

Liposuction, Brazilian butt lift, blood

The latest complaint said 35-year-old patient I.F. went to New Life on March 18, 2025, for an inner thigh liposuction and Brazilian butt lift.

“According to [Clavijo-Alvarez’s] operative report, [he] performed the surgery on I.F., which she tolerated well, and she was taken to the recovery,” the complaint said. “The operative report noted that the surgery was aborted early due to bleeding, but also that the liposuction and BBL were completed.”

Clavijo-Alvarez’s progress notes also mentioned the bleeding and early halt to the surgery, the complaint said.

Neither the operative report nor progress notes say when the bleeding happened, what was bleeding, what Clavijo-Alvarez did to stop or control the bleeding, if the bleeding was stopped, how much blood was lost or what fluids were given to I.F.

But the complaint said, “Hospital records show I.F. had a post-surgical complication after undergoing a BBL which required a blood transfusion.”

The complaint said Clavijo-Alvarez violated Florida statutes when he “failed to maintain records that justify the course of treatment of I.F.” because his operative report and progress notes had the aforementioned information gaps about the bleeding that stopped the surgery and required the patient to be treated at a hospital.