Illinois regulators to audit plastic surgeon case, seek changes in law after Tribune investigation

Illinois' medical licensing agency said it will perform an internal review of how it handled allegations against Chicago plastic surgeon Dr. Ayoub Sayeg after a Tribune investigation found the state has yet to discipline him despite eight patient deaths.

The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation also said it plans to pursue changes to state laws to help accelerate the disciplinary process in similar cases. The agency has been investigating Sayeg since 2020, and at least three patients have died while that process was pending, the Tribune reported.

The department announced the measures in a statement sent to the Tribune before the newspaper published its investigation Sunday.

Eight of Sayeg's patients - all of them women of color - died in a seven-year span shortly after their surgeries at his 63 Laser & Skin Clinic, located in a predominantly Latino neighborhood on the city's Southwest Side, the Tribune found. Each surgery involved a tummy tuck and at least one other procedure, typically liposuction.

Six of the women died from complications of plastic surgery, according to medical examiner and coroner records, and two other patients overdosed on pain medication at home after undergoing their procedures. The Tribune could identify only one other doctor in Cook County who, since 2015, had more than one patient die after performing plastic surgery. He had two patient deaths, records show.

The Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, which licenses physicians and many other professionals, confirmed it initiated formal administrative proceedings against Sayeg after receiving a complaint in 2020 regarding Idalia Corcoles, a 39-year-old Chicago mother of four who died the previous year, shortly after undergoing surgery.

But more than five years later, Sayeg still has a clean medical license.

"IDFPR acknowledges that the timeline of this case has fallen short of our standards, and it has initiated a comprehensive internal audit to gather a complete understanding of the situation and to prevent similar scenarios in the future," the department wrote in its statement. "This is a serious matter, and the Department remains wholly focused on pursuing the maximum penalty while moving as expediently as the process allows."

As part of its internal review, the department said it will investigate whether more could have been done to prioritize the Sayeg proceedings as a "high-risk case" and whether supervisors reviewed the case frequently enough given the investigation's lengthy timeline and its complexities. The department said the audit also will examine whether coordination between its employees could have advanced the case faster and whether "additional enforcement measures could have potentially been taken."

The statement said the department is pursuing the maximum penalty against Sayeg to bar him from practicing medicine in Illinois. It described the matter as "an exceptionally serious and complex case involving multiple healthcare professionals overseeing patients' care, extensive records, specialized experts, and significant medical, legal, and evidentiary considerations."

"Given the complexities," it said, "the case would have taken a significant amount of time to come to completion regardless of shortcomings."

The department also said it will pursue legislative changes to allow some civil judgments to serve as grounds for discipline without the need for full administrative proceedings.

In its statement, the department said it is currently required to reestablish many or all of the "facts and evidentiary foundations" of a case even if they have already been litigated in civil court, "causing the administrative process to linger."

The department also noted its prosecutors face a "significantly higher burden of proof" than plaintiffs in civil actions. As an example, the department said seeking even a minor penalty such as a $2,000 fine against a doctor under current law requires stronger evidence than what would be needed for a patient to pursue a multimillion-dollar medical malpractice judgment in civil court.

Corcoles' family sued Sayeg and his anesthesiologist in 2021, and jurors delivered a $56 million verdict in late 2024. But more than a year and a half later, Sayeg's disciplinary case remains ongoing. The department recently amended its complaint against him to include allegations involving the death of another patient, Crystal Walker Keating, records show.

The department confirmed that its investigation has yet to advance to a formal evidentiary hearing. The next status hearing was scheduled for Monday.

Officials also said they hope to change state law to require licensed professionals such as doctors who are facing disciplinary proceedings to disclose "material developments related to the same or similar conduct while they are ongoing,” such as additional patient injuries or deaths, lawsuits, investigations, hospital actions or peer review findings. Current law requires medical professionals to disclose a limited number of things, including court settlements and judgments as well as disciplinary actions involving police or other government and licensing agencies.

"Requiring supplemental reporting during the pendency of an administrative action ensures that the Department, (Illinois) Medical Board, and administrative law judge have access to relevant information necessary to assess patterns of conduct, risk to the public, and appropriate disciplinary outcomes," the statement said.

While the department acknowledged shortcomings, it also said officials have taken steps in recent years to improve their processes, including by appointing a new chief of medical prosecutions in early 2025 and identifying "specific deadlines for the filing of charges after a matter is assigned to a prosecutor." The department's chief medical coordinator also now has greater involvement in advising division prosecutors on which cases should be given higher priority, according to the statement.

"Nothing is more important than protecting Illinoisans and the Department is committed to continued efforts to improve its processes," the state said.

A lawyer for the Corcoles family, Brad Cosgrove, criticized the department during the civil trial that ended in the $56 million verdict. "The state does not police doctors," Cosgrove told jurors, according to a court transcript of the proceedings.

On Friday, he praised the department for seeking the "maximum penalty" and for proposing changes, including potentially making it easier for state officials to consider court evidence.

"I think that's excellent," Cosgrove told the Tribune. "If somebody had full opportunity to defend themselves in a civil action and there's transcripts and proceedings, I can't understand why that wouldn't be a heavy part of the state licensing review process."

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