BIO-DIESEL? FRENCH FRY FUEL? There have been a lot of new articles during the past year about how people are making a minor adjustment to their diesel engines so that they can burn fuel made out of corn, cotton and cooking oil. There is a cottage industry of people who go around to restaurants buying up their old fryer oil and converting it to diesel fuel.
A doctor in Los Angeles became innovative with this concept and started making his own fuel out of ……. body fat that he collected from liposuction procedures in his office.
Doctor Craig Alan Bittner had a good thing going during this recent gas-price spike. Taking home gobs of subcutaneous fat and converting it into diesel, he was able to power his Ford SUV and his girlfriend’s Lincoln Navigator. Writing on one of his websites, lipodiesel.com (no longer online), he told that: “The vast majority of my patients request that I use their fat for fuel–and I have more fat than I can use. Not only do they get to lose their love handles or chubby belly but they get to take part in saving the Earth.”
Unfortunately for Dr. Bittner it is very much illegal to use human medical waste for fuel. For a while he was able to get away with it, but a spate of recent lawsuits by some of his clients brought his lipofuel to light. The patients were objecting the the doctor allowing both his office receptionist and his girlfriend to operate the vacuum nozzle of the lipomachine. “Practicing medicine without a license” is the phrase most often quoted in the complaints. Attorney Andrew Besser, who represents three patients, says the assistant and girlfriend removed too much fat from clients and left them disfigured. Dozens of other patients have complained to the state medical board, Besser says.
The Beverly Hills Courier reports:
Well-known Beverly Hills lipo surgeon Dr. David Amron said it was unusual that Bittner was a board-certified radiologist practicing liposculpture.
“There is no specific policy,” Amron said. “As a licensed medical professional, you are licensed to (practice) what you want. But generally, with each procedure you are specialized in that concentration. There are usually two groups of doctors who do liposuction, board certified plastic surgeons or dermatological surgeons.”
Since Bittner opened his Rodeo office in 2007, Amron said he has seen “12 to 15” of Bittner’s patients needing reconstructive surgery. Two of the plaintiffs in the Bittner case went to Amron. The other is so badly disfigured she cannot have reconstruction.
The papers filed in court with the complaints were brought to the attention of the state Public Health Dept. and now they are involved, too. Dr. Bittner is not involved much anymore, though. He closed his surgery, Beverly Hills Liposculpture, in November after the State Medical Board conducted a suprise inspection of his office and seized all of his records, papers and computers. Three days later an arrest warrant was issued and he hastily moved to Brazil with his girlfriend to do volunteer work “in a small clinic.”
“Read more about this “power”ful story in Forbes HERE.
Dr. Alan Bittner WEBSITE.
