Neurosurgeon's multiple DWI arrests not listed on Texas Medical Board site
11/06/2017 3:21 pm PST
Any time you have to go in for surgery it can be a scary situation. Especially if it's brain surgery. So what if you found out your doctor had been arrested multiple times for drunken driving? Or worse yet -- you were never told?
On the night of March 1, 2016, a woman is trying to walk the line after being pulled over by police. But every few steps she stumbles. And forget standing on one leg. And this is not your average mom who's had one too many after a girls night out. Nope it's much scarier than that.
"Guys, look, I'm a neurosurgeon here."
The DUI suspect is a doctor under the influence. Melissa Macias is a well-respected neurosurgeon in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Dr. Macias was pulled over just before 10 p.m. Back at the station a blood test reveals her blood-alcohol content is 0.207 percent. That's more than twice the legal limit. Here's the scariest part: The wobbly surgeon was scheduled to perform two delicate operations just 10 hours later.
Thankfully she's forced to cancel, because cops put her on a 12-hour hold in the drunk tank.
The drama started earlier that night when the 50-year-old Dr. Macias went to a salon to have her hair done. Employees there told police she flew into a rage. The salon called the cops, reportedly telling them they could smell booze on her breath. Police tracked her plate and pulled the doctor over. Macias tells cops she was upset because the hairdresser was running late.
Salon workers told cops Macias knocked down a promotional display with a swipe of her hand, smashed a vase and left without paying.
"I literally could not say anything without getting sworn at," one of the salon workers told police.
And this reportedly is not Macias's first DWI. In fact, the revered neurosurgeon has been arrested a staggering three times for driving drunk in two different states. And she still kept her license to practice medicine.
A few weeks after her third arrest Macias performed a spinal surgery on patient Darshell Garner. But Garner says she had no clue her surgeon faced criminal charges for drunken driving.
"She would have never touched me. Had I known she had those -- any OWI, anything, she would have never touched me," said Garner.
Garner says she found out about the pending charges when the hospital sent her a letter that the surgeon was no longer with Aurora Health Care. Garner has filed a complaint with hospital administration.
"I believe any patient has the right to know," said Garner.
Since Melissa Macias's arrests, the Wisconsin state medical examining board recommended public discipline, but the slippery surgeon cut a deal. She'll continue to work as long as she stays sober and goes to treatment. Now Macias has left Wisconsin to work in a Texas surgical center.
Should patients at the South Texas Brain and Spine Center watch their backs? On the Texas Medical Board website, Dr. Macias reports that she had no criminal history and no history of disciplinary action.
Crime Watch Daily reached out to Macias's new employers, but they have not gotten back to us.
For now, Melissa Macias seems to have dodged a bullet. Her first three arrests were misdemeanors -- but don't mess with Texas: If she gets a DWI in the Lone Star State and is convicted, the surgeon could face up to a year behind bars.
