Warren B. Seiler III, MD
John Di Saia, MD
Beatriz H. Porras, MD
Shervin Naderi, MD, FACS
Edward Zimmerman MD
Paula Di Marco Young, BS RN
Seth A. Yellin, MD FACS
Dr. Kevin D. Light
Stephen Weber MD PhD
Brian K. Sidella
Sabine Zenker, MD
Daniel Kaufman MD
Brian Howard MD FACS
Mickey A. Couvertier
Lila Bratani MD
Alex Denes MD FACP
7 CommentsBeverly Hills Plastic Surgeon uses his patients liposuction fat to fuel his girlfriends SUV.
Liposuction fat as car fuel? This may be a marketable solution if gas gets up to $4 a gallon again.
via medical news today post:
A plastic surgeon who practised in Beverly Hills, California, is being accused of using human fat liposuctioned from former patients to fuel his car.
According to Forbes.com, Alan Bittner allegedly collected the human fat and turned it into biodiesel for his own SUV and his girlfriend's car. He is being investigated by California's public health department.
Numerous food processing companies are considering using waste products such as animal and vegetable fats as fuel: they are a rich source of triglycerides that can be converted to biodiesel. According to Forbes, Bittner wrote on his website that many of his patients asked him to use their fat as fuel. His website is no longer online.
However, although the idea itself may seem to satisfy "green" values, it is against the law in California to use what is essentially human medical waste as fuel for cars.
It appears it is not the patients that object to Bittner using their fat as car fuel; it was when health officials investigated complaints that the doctor allowed his unqualified girlfriend to perform procedures that they discovered evidence to suggest he was breaking the law by allegedly using waste human fat as a source of diesel fuel.
A lawyer who represents the patients who are suing Bittner told Forbes that the procedures performed by the girlfriend and an assistant resulted in too much fat being removed and this left the patients disfigured. Attorney Andrew Besser said lots of patients have made similar complaints to the state authorities.
The news agency reported that the investigations will probably be dropped because Bittner closed his clinic and moved to South America before Christmas.
Biodiesel is a non-petroleum-based diesel fuel comprising methyl or ethyl esters converted from vegetable oil or animal fat (industrially known as tallow), which can be used either on its own or with petroleum-based diesel in unmodified diesel engine vehicles. It is not the same as straight vegetable oil that is used alone or blended in some converted diesel engines
Reader Comments (7)
You know, I was about to post something really pithy about this... but some things are just better left unsaid.
CA Derm,
Well Unsaid!
Numerous food processing companies are considering using waste products such as animal and vegetable fats as fuel: they are a rich source of triglycerides that can be converted to biodiesel. According to Forbes, Bittner wrote on his website that many of his patients asked him to use their fat as fuel.
He was a radiologist, not a plastic surgeon
All the stuff I have read about Bittner is that he was a beverly Hills "plastic surgeon".
At first glance, finding a viable use for human fat collected from liposuction procedures looks very ingenious. However, as this involves human medical waste, use and/or disposal of such should be in accordance with existing laws. In the long run, laws pertaining to medical waste are aimed at protecting the interest of the majority.
Jessica Carson
It is interesting to note he did this to his girl friend's SUV not his Ferrari. Did he have to get "signed clearance" for the EXPERIMENT he did?