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Did Beverly Hills Plastic Surgeon Drive on ‘Lipodiesel’?

Posted Dec 24, 2008 11:48 AM CST
By Martha Neil

There ought to be a law against using human fat to fuel automobiles, many might feel--and in fact, at least in California, there is.

Hence, the public health department there is investigating alleged use of "lipodiesel" by Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Craig Alan Bittner, according to Forbes.

Bittner's claimed fuel-saving technique came to light after patients filed lawsuits contending that Bittner allowed his assistant and his girlfriend to perform surgeries without a medical license, the news magazine writes. "Attorney Andrew Besser, who represents three patients, says the assistant and girlfriend removed too much fat from clients and left them disfigured."

Bittner reportedly discussed his use of "lipodiesel" on a website, lipodiesel.com, that has been taken down, recounts the London Times. "The vast majority of my patients request that I use their fat for fuel--and I have more fat than I can use,” he reportedly wrote on the now-former site.

In a letter posted on his clinic website, Bittner says he's now doing volunteer work in South America.

"After 10 years in practice, I have treated over 40,000 patients, including almost 7,000 liposculpture patients. I am proud to be able to tell you that the record of my liposculpture practice has been impeccable; not one single serious complication or infection," he writes.

Comments

1.

A Arbin
Dec 26, 2008 11:04 AM CST

You can come by and pull some lipo out of the tuches of my wife.  She has plenty to go around, and even more to spare.  Can we get a tax deduction for this?

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2.

B. McLeod
Dec 26, 2008 5:03 PM CST

Maybe Detroit will develop a new product in which the seats are fitted with an apparatus to draw fat from the driver and passengers, process out the fatty acids, and send the refined fat into the fuel system.  If the “futurist” is writing columns this week, perhaps he will give us insight on the market potential for this innovation.

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3.

Bill Dugan
Dec 26, 2008 5:07 PM CST

This is true?  If there is any value here, I will volunteer my wife.  It would be the first time she has done anything to bring money into the house rather than just spend money!  Quite a number of my buddies also have wives and girlfriends with enough “assets” to restart the economy if they can pump out all of their fat.

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4.

Allen Sheketovits
Dec 27, 2008 3:53 PM CST

Comment removed by moderator.

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5.

Alvin Borders
Dec 29, 2008 6:12 AM CST

The doctor’s office should provide full disclosure of they are going to use your fat to power their cars.  I think that there should be a discount for the use of the fat.  Through the use of barter, many men will be able to cash in on the fat of their wives’ and get a rebate.  This may be taxable, #1.

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6.

J.D.
Dec 29, 2008 1:52 PM CST

In other words, if the “fat tax” idea proposed by liberals spreads, it’s going to result in Mr. Bittner relying more on fossil fuels, which will, in turn, submerge half the country in ice cap waters.

A “fat tax” is bad for the environment!! Speaking of fat, where’s Al Gore on this…?

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7.

Benjamin Dover
Dec 29, 2008 7:49 PM CST

Comment removed by moderator.

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8.

PAC
Dec 30, 2008 5:07 AM CST

Your wives are all lucky to have men like you as husbands.  I’m sure you’re all specimens—of something…

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9.

Alma Fulmer
Dec 30, 2008 7:47 AM CST

This time of year, these ungrateful men should be happy if their women have a little extra fat—better to stay warm with a woman than freeze with a skinny little girl depending on you for warmth.  Ugh, you men are disgusting!

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10.

sb
Dec 30, 2008 10:43 AM CST

I don’t think the issue was disclosure, if the health department was involved.  I may just be ignorant on the subject, but why is it allegedly OK to use aborted fetal tissue for medical research and not OK to use discarded human fat for fuel?

Then again, this isn’t too far from “Silence of the Lambs”—“It puts the lotion on its skin or else I have to use gasoline again!”

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11.

B. McLeod
Dec 30, 2008 11:10 AM CST

Closer, perhaps, to “science of the lamps.”

Before there was widespread commerce in refined petroleum fuels, whale oil (refined from cooked blubber) was a common fuel for furnaces and lamps in this country.

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12.

Belinda Cabazon
Dec 30, 2008 12:05 PM CST

If Men with fat asses; is fine; but
Women with fat asses—not acceptable?

Why the double standard?  Why should women be penalized for having a fat ass?

I think there needs to be a re-evaluation of what is important here. 

Either fat is good or bad, but not for men but not for women only.

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13.

M. LeBlanc
Dec 30, 2008 1:58 PM CST

“I find many comments fatuous,” he said.

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14.

Allen Sheketovits
Dec 31, 2008 12:44 PM CST

A woman with a fat tuches was considered beautiful in Rembrandt’s day.  Think of the Old Masters’ paintings, with fat women laying around eating grapes. 

When did the scrawny look get hot?  When the fat women no longer could lay around eating grapes and instead became professional women? 

If this is the case, then let’s go back to the good old days where men could be men and fat women could lay around eating grapes.

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15.

prosecutor1966
Dec 31, 2008 3:53 PM CST

I’m not sure I understand why this is so wrong.  Presumably, the patients didn’t want the sucked-out fat for their own personal use, and they didn’t ask for it to be preserved, so why would they or the Health Dept. care if the fat went into a diesel engine?  If you go get a haircut, do you care what the barber does with the hair that is swept up from the floor?  I don’t, and I suspect most wouldn’t.  Why, then, would ANYBODY care what happens to fat extracted during lipo procedures.  As long as he didn’t hazard the public with “medical waste”, it is then a waste of tax money for the Health Dept. to “investigate” the use of “liposdiesel”.  Dumb.  Really dumb.

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16.

NativeNewYorker
Jan 5, 2009 4:45 PM CST

Chances are A. Arbin and B. Dugan would have cold feet for the rest of the week if their wives read their kind comments.  Like they look like Brad or even Bruce Willis…

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