SALT LAKE CITY — After the U.S. Department of Justice dropped charges this summer against a Utah doctor accused of running a fake COVID-19 vaccination card scheme, the plastic surgeon told FOX 13 News that he hoped “to never go back to court again.”
But that’s exactly where Dr. Kirk Moore found himself earlier this month — where a state jury sided with a former patient who allegedly suffered severe complications after he performed her abdominoplasty, or “tummy tuck.”
The jury awarded the woman nearly $900,000, including about $50,000 for past medical expenses, $25,000 for future ones and $800,000 in non-economic damages.
The complaint contended that as her infection worsened, the patient reached out to the Plastic Surgery Institute of Utah, where Moore worked at the time. But it says Moore never saw her and “never followed up despite her complaints and obvious complications.” She was ultimately hospitalized and faced "years of recovery and necessary revision surgery,” according to the lawsuit.
FOX 13 News called and left messages for Moore and his attorneys but didn’t hear back. An attorney for the plaintiff declined an interview.
Moore’s license remains active with the Utah Department of Professional Licensing, according to its online database, and Moore's website states that he is continuing to practice at Freedom Surgical & Aesthetics in Midvale.
But court records show Moore’s time in the courtroom may not be finished.
He's currently facing a separate medical malpractice complaint related to a “flash fire” that occurred while he was performing a breast implant removal and replacement surgery at the Plastic Surgery Institute of Utah in 2024.
A state complaint filed by the patient involved in the fire alleges that it sparked due to residual antiseptic alcohol. As the fire blazed, the lawsuit contends she sustained second and third-degree burns over about 19% of her body, including “her chest, inner arms, back, and flanks."
The patient was then transported by ambulance and helicopter to the burn unit at the University of Utah, where she spent 23 days, according to the lawsuit. At the time the complaint was filed in May, it said she continued to receive “painful burn treatments," including "harvesting donor skin from her body” and “implantation of donor skin on injured skin.”
Moore and his attorneys admit in court filings “that a flash fire occurred but deny that it was from the residual alcohol.”
