The doctor who broke Kanye West’s heart in mother’s tragic death
PUBLISHED: November 18, 2007 at 12:13 a.m. | UPDATED: January 12, 2019 at 2:31 p.m.
LOS ANGELES – The cosmetic surgeon who operated on Kanye West’s mom the day before she died makes his living telling clients they don’t have to live with their flaws.
It’s little surprise then that Dr. Jan Adams was able to forge a glitzy reputation as a sought-after TV personality and celebrity physician despite his personal blemishes.
A Daily News investigation found a past pocked by at least 10 malpractice suits, multiple convictions for DUI and allegations of battery and harassment.
By the time he appeared on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” in 2003, the smooth-talking Beverly Hills surgeon was on probation for a May 2003 DUI conviction. He also had a restraining order issued against him by a girlfriend who claimed his “unfortunate drinking problem” led to a violent “Jekyll and Hyde” personality.
Two years earlier, he lost two high-stakes medical malpractice cases in two months.
Former patient Barri Dennison won a judgment of $250,000 in August 2001 after claiming Adams botched an attempt to fill in facial wrinkles. Patient Gina Cloud won a $217,337 judgment a month later after accusing Adams of bungling four successive attempts to remove excess skin from around her belly button.
Oprah’s production company would not say how – or if – it vetted Adams before trotting him out as an expert. The talk show diva isn’t the first to take the dashing doctor – and former Chanel model – on his word.
Turns out the Middletown, Ohio-bred physician who said he “graduated from Harvard” on his recently shuttered Web site never received his undergraduate degree from the Ivy League school. A source in the records department said Adams completed his academic requirements, but Harvard never handed over a diploma.
“He would have received it in March 1977, but due to something he needs to resolve with the school, he didn’t get it,” the source said.
Still, Adams went on to graduate from Ohio State University’s medical school in June 1985, moved on to a general residency at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York and finished a two-year plastic surgery residency at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor in June 1992.
Adams, who always dreamed of becoming a celebrity doctor, according to one relative, quickly beat a path out west and snagged a one-year plastic surgery fellowship at UCLA.
“He came highly recommended by the University of Michigan,” said UCLA spokeswoman Roxanne Moster. “He received one year of experience in cosmetic surgery here, and he does not have any association with UCLA since completing the fellowship.”
Once through residency, Adams teamed up with an uncle who had a plastic surgery practice in Los Angeles. The uncle, Dr. Pearlman Hicks, also attended Harvard undergrad and considered Adams his protégé.
“He was with me for two years after his residency, and when he left me his skill level was fine,” Hicks told The News. “But his goal was to be a media physician when we parted ways. That could be something that overcomes you and causes lapses in judgment.”
Hicks said he was “shocked” to hear about Adams’ history of drunken driving and admitted the number of medical malpractice cases filed against his nephew – at least 10 since 1996 – seemed high.
Still, “we all have disgruntled patients,” he said. “I just want to talk to him and hear his side of the story.”
Adams, 53, has maintained a low profile since admitting he performed a combination tummy tuck and breast reduction on Kanye’s mom, Donda West, just 24 hours before she stopped breathing at her Southern California home and was rushed to an L.A. hospital where she was pronounced dead Nov. 10.
The coroner is investigating “complications of surgery” as the cause, but a definitive report will take several weeks. Adams is not certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery.
As the Daily News reported last week, Adams performed the surgery at a storefront clinic above a FedEx Kinko’s in a West Los Angeles strip mall. A Beverly Hills address listed for Adams in multiple online directories turned out to be a Mail Boxes Etc. store.
Adams offered his “deepest condolences” to Kanye’s family in a statement released last week but won’t talk more until the coroner’s office returns its findings, his spokesman said.
A coroner spokesman said that if his investigator finds “some kind of gross negligence,” the coroner will turn the matter over to the Medical Board of California and the district attorney for disciplinary action.
In addition to his Oprah appearance, Adams also co-hosted NBC’s short-lived all-male answer to “The View,” called “The Other Half.” The other gabbers included Dick Clark, Danny Bonaduce and Mario Lopez.
Next, he landed a hosting gig with Discovery Health Channel’s hit makeover show “Plastic Surgery: Before and After,” which he held for five years until earlier this year.
Discovery Health yanked the show from reruns after news of Adams’ malpractice and alcohol-related problems surfaced last week.
Other accusations against Adams include a 2005 suit in which ex-model Teana Lucas claimed Adams performed liposuction surgery on her, fed her painkillers and several glasses of wine, raped her and got her pregnant. The case was settled for an undisclosed sum.
In the last 12 months, Adams’ ex-wife Susan Field claimed Adams flew into a rage after she answered the phone during Thanksgiving dinner and slapped her around in front of her son. She later obtained a restraining order.
Citing his 2002 DUI conviction and another conviction stemming from a 2006 DUI arrest, the Medical Board of California filed a complaint in April seeking to revoke or suspend Adams’ license. The complaint, which states Adams has used alcohol to an extent that could be “dangerous or injurious” to others, is pending.