Dr. Leslie Masters. NewsOn6
A Tulsa doctor whose medical license was suspended in 2017 after the state found several cases of negligence has failed to comply with the terms surrounding her suspension and could face further disciplinary action, according to the state’s medical board.
The Oklahoma Board of Medical Licensure and Supervision suspended the medical license of Dr. Leslie Masters in August 2017 following an investigation into her medical practices. Masters was also ordered to pay a $25,000 fine.
And since her license was suspended, Masters has been sued by at least three people for medical negligence.
Masters was supposed to appear before the medical board on Friday to review the status of her one-year suspension and penalties against her. However, she did not show up and has not paid the fine, a board spokesman said. The case has been referred to the board’s secretary for possible further disciplinary action.
Masters is barred from practicing medicine while her license is suspended. Her license will not be reinstated until she appears before the board and complies with any orders, the spokesman said. She will have another chance to go before the board in November.
A message left at a phone number listed under Masters’ name on Monday was not returned.
The Frontier first wrote about Masters in June 2017 when her license was set for board review after the agency investigated her medical practices. The probe was launched after the board discovered Masters reached a $750,000 settlement in a case that alleged a patient died during a liposuction procedure in 2014.
Masters settled at least seven lawsuits related to liposuction surgeries for more than $1.3 million between March 2011 and April 2015, the board’s investigation found.
Masters has no formal surgical training, according to board documents. Before her license was suspended, she had been licensed to practice in Oklahoma since 2000. She completed a residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in oncology, which involves the study and treatment of tumors, records indicate. She specialized in nutrition, internal medicine and general preventive medicine.
Prior to her suspension, Masters had come before the board for discipline before.
The board put a restriction on her license in March 2016 to bar her from performing surgeries after Masters allegedly gave a patient syringes filled with the patient’s fat tissue and told the patient to take the syringes home, put them in her freezer and self-inject them into her face when she desired.
The restriction followed a board investigation into a complaint received March 21, 2016, from a patient identified only as “RK” in board records.
Following several cosmetic procedures in 2015, Masters gave RK syringes filled with fat tissue taken from RK’s body, RK’s complaint stated.
“Dr. Masters had the fat-filled syringes wrapped in a surgical towel and instructed RK to take them home and place them in RK’s freezer,” the complaint alleged. “Dr. Masters advised RK that the fat would remain ‘good’ for about one year.”
RK developed a serious bacterial infection in her face, the complaint stated. Masters treated the infection for about three months, but it didn’t go away. Masters gave RK injections to treat the infection but those only made her condition worse, according to the complaint.
In January 2004, Masters, who at the time used the last name Sibley, had her license suspended indefinitely.
Masters pleaded guilty to 18 violations including habitually using drugs, writing false prescriptions and being unable to practice medicine with reasonable skill safe to patients.
Her license was reinstated that same year when Masters was put on a five-year probation after she agreed to certain terms including taking periodical drug tests and not prescribing controlled drugs.
Recent lawsuits
Since the medical board suspended Masters’ license on Aug. 1, 2017, at least three people have sued her for medical negligence.
Masters has not entered responses in any of the lawsuits, which were all filed in Tulsa County District Court.
The three women alleged in their complaints they were injured from cosmetic procedures performed by Masters. They are each seeking in excess of $75,000.
Related reading:
After settling seven lawsuits for $1.3 million, Tulsa doctor’s license set for review
