A Chicago plastic surgeon’s license will remain suspended until at least the end of the year, after a judge dismissed his request to continue treating patients at his clinic while the state’s disciplinary process against him plays out.
Dr. Ayoub Sayeg of 63 Laser & Skin Clinic had filed a complaint in Sangamon County asking a judge to impose a temporary restraining order against the state, alleging Illinois regulators made procedural errors in their handling of his July 7 temporary suspension.
A court hearing on the surgeon’s emergency request was set for Oct. 28 in Springfield. But two days before the hearing, Circuit Judge Adam Giganti granted the state’s motion to dismiss the complaint, citing the court’s lack of jurisdiction.
The judge agreed with the state that the law requires Sayeg to go through the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation’s administrative process before coming to the court for help. An administrative hearing on the temporary suspension is scheduled for late January.
The surgeon’s attorney, Michael Goldberg, told the Tribune he plans to file a motion asking the judge to reconsider. “But for now it is over,” the attorney said of the court case in an emailed statement. “We respect the court’s decision but disagree with the outcome.”
The law allows state regulators to take action against a physician’s license without an administrative hearing if the department has evidence that the doctor’s continued practice presents “an immediate danger” to the public.
The suspension of Sayeg’s license came shortly after the Tribune published an investigation
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that found the state had not disciplined the longtime surgeon despite eight patient deaths in seven years. Regulators inspected his clinic less than two weeks after the story ran on June 7.Six of the patients died from complications of plastic surgery, according to public records, and the other two later overdosed on pain medication at home. All were women who underwent a tummy tuck and at least one other procedure, typically liposuction.
Sayeg, 58, lives in Michigan and runs a plastic surgery business there as well. He regularly traveled between Illinois and Michigan while running both practices and also held licenses in California and Virginia.
Regulators in each of those states recently suspended his license, according to public records. Citing Illinois’ disciplinary action, Virginia issued a mandatory suspension order Aug. 4 and California on Oct. 14. Michigan regulatory authorities meted out a summary suspension in late September based on the Virginia suspension and complaints from two Michigan women who allege Sayeg botched their 2024 surgeries. The Michigan administrative proceeding is ongoing.
The Illinois license suspension was based on alleged violations discovered during the state’s inspection of his office-based surgical center on the Southwest Side this summer. The state actually began investigating Sayeg years earlier, after receiving a complaint in 2020 regarding the death of patient Idalia Corcoles, 39, of Chicago.
Her family sued Sayeg and his anesthesiologist in 2021, and jurors delivered a $56 million verdict in 2024. Several patients died as the state investigation stalled.
Illinois regulatory officials told the Tribune they are pursuing the maximum penalty against Sayeg to bar him permanently from practicing in the state. They also said they are performing an internal review of how the department handled his case and they plan to pursue changes to state laws next year to help accelerate the disciplinary process in similar cases.
In response to the Sangamon County judge’s ruling, an IDFPR spokesperson said in a statement: “The department’s disciplinary case against Dr. Sayeg remains set for hearing as scheduled, and his license remains suspended in the interim.”