Surgeon Insists Beauty Queen Got Just What She Ordered in Nose, Cheek Jobs

A Newport Beach cosmetic surgeon, accused of giving a former beauty queen from Orange County a nose job and cheek implants that she never wanted, testified Thursday that “I just told her point-blank, if she didn’t want to do the operation as I suggested, she shouldn’t do it.”

But Dr. Michael Elam, contradicting emotional testimony last week from former Mrs. California Bonnie Luebke, asserted during his second day on the witness stand that the Trabuco Canyon woman responded: “Do the operation. Let’s go.”

Luebke, who says she went to Elam in 1985 for a simple jowl tuck and brow lift, has insisted that she was too sedated to know what was going on.

The Medical Board of California is trying to prove that Elam, intent on performing the operation his way, had Luebke sign surgical consent forms while drugged, then performed nose and cheek procedures that she had repeatedly rejected. Elam is also accused of submitting fraudulent insurance claims for $3,700. Luebke, now 55, says she has a large scar on her forehead and has suffered numbness, eye problems and psychological trauma as a result of the surgery.

The state also charges that Elam and former partner Dr. Frederick Berkowitz botched a “tummy tuck” on Louise Byas, leaving the Dana Point woman with a scarred midsection, and filed fraudulent insurance claims for that procedure as well.

Elam and Berkowitz could face probation, suspension or revocation of their licenses if state Administrative Law Judge Rosalyn M. Chapman rules against them.

Elam, who saw his practice boom following facial work on comedienne Phyllis Diller in 1983, will resume the witness stand on Monday. The hearing is expected to last at least through next week.

State Deputy Atty. Gen. Barry Ladendorf, who had generally maintained a low-key approach during the hearing, came out swinging in his cross-examination Thursday morning, hitting Elam with a series of often-confrontational, sarcastic and rapid-fire questions.

Rolling his eyes throughout his testimony, Elam repeatedly shot back: “That’s not true, Mr. Ladendorf,” in response to the attorney’s questioning. At one point, frustrated by Ladendorf’s insistence that he answer a question directly, the doctor glared at the lawyer and said: “Well, I won’t answer. . . . You apparently don’t want to know those facts anyway.”

Much of Ladendorf’s questioning centered on attempts to show that Elam collected insurance money fraudulently on both the Luebke and Byas surgeries by making elective, cosmetic procedures appear health-related and necessary.

According to her medical history, Byas was referred to Elam and Berkowitz for treatment of a hernia in the front midsection. But asked by Ladendorf whether she was really referred for such a condition, Elam responded: “Not exactly.”

Elam blamed the inconsistencies in medical reporting on clerical mistakes made by “the girls” in his office.

“If somebody made a mistake, it was never corrected, and that’s not my fault,” Elam said. He maintained that he never read over some of the medical reports that contained the inaccuracies.

Elam appeared flustered at times by Ladendorf’s aggressive questioning and acknowledged as much afterward. Referring to Ladendorf, the doctor said: “It’s infuriating to try to talk about your business to someone that doesn’t understand, doesn’t have the faculties to understand, and doesn’t want to understand. He’s prejudged my guilt.”

But Ladendorf dismissed Elam’s repeated suggestions that the case against him has been spurred not by any medical wrongdoing, but rather on professional jealousies by his rivals from the American Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons, who criticize Elam and other cosmetic surgeons for what they term a lack of proper credentials.

“It’s just not true,” Ladendorf said.