Two women are suing a former Wyoming cosmetic surgeon and others on claims the surgeon left them disfigured — one after a bout with necrotic breast tissue and maggots, and another after months of infection.
Afton Jennings and Casi Duncan filed their civil complaint Sunday in Natrona County District Court via their attorney Jack Edwards of Etna-based Edwards Law Office.
They are suing:
• Cosmetic surgeon Chrisopher Nicholas Stewart.
• Registered nurse Joury Markowski.
• The Wyoming business New Beautiful You.
• New Beautiful You president Melissa Black, Vice-president John Roussalis and medical director Shawn Snyder.
• Memorial Hospital of Converse County and Summit Medical Center, which operates under its umbrella.
The women are asking for damages, pre- and post-judgment interest, costs and attorneys’ fees, exemplary damages and any other relief the court deems just.
“Multiple patients — including Plaintiffs in this action — suffered devastating outcomes, including infection, necrosis, permanent disfigurement and loss of bodily function,” wrote Edwards in the complaint.
Stewart has left Wyoming for Helena, Montana, the complaint adds.
“Plaintiffs bring this action not only to obtain redress for their injuries, but to prevent further harm to other unsuspecting patients who may be lured in by Dr. Stewart’s marketing, charm or false assurances of competence,” it says.
Stewart declined Monday to comment on the pending lawsuit.
Growing Sicker
New Beautiful You markets procedures like breast reduction surgery and the mommy makeover to restore a woman’s figure after childbearing with slogans like, “Lighter, balanced, confident you,” and “Hot mama on the loose!” the complaint says.
New Beautiful You touted Stewart as offering “the highest quality services,” it adds.
Jennings had significantly enlarged breasts “for a very long time” that caused neck and back pain and physical limitations, the lawsuit says, adding that breast reduction was “medically indicated” to help her physically and functionally.
She spoke with Stewart at New Beautiful You on May 3, 2023, about breast reduction surgery and arranged to have him perform the surgery July 28 of that year, says the document.
She vomited continuously in the recovery area at Summit Medical Center, where Stewart performed the surgery. Staffers gave her medications, essential oils and 7-Up soda, then released her “without further instructions, including wound care instructions, leaving Jennings with the impression that everything was fine,” wrote Edwards.
The complaint says Stewart and Summit failed to provide Jennings post-operative wound care, or notes about signs of post-surgical complications.
Meanwhile, she grew sicker.
Her breast became discolored, and Stewart told Jennings at an Aug. 1, 2023, follow-up visit that he was “not impressed with the coloring,” but he sent her home, the document says.
She woke two days later feeling “very ill” with a 99-degree fever which signifies higher fever activity for her than it would for others since she has Hashimoto’s disease, says the complaint. Her breasts were red, hot, swollen and tender — and her nipple was blackening, Edwards wrote.
Stewart was not available when she called New Beautiful You, and the staff dismissed her fever as “low grade” and said she didn’t need to come in.
Ruptured Breast And Maggots
Her left breast ruptured later that day, discharging pus and fluid. Her fever and pain eased, the complaint says.
She called New Beautiful You again, and a staffer told her it was “normal to have drainage,” yet no records were kept of that call, the document alleges.
Stewart remained unavailable Aug. 4, 2023, so Jennings shared her worries with facility medical director Shawn Snyder in his place, then again on Aug. 7, 2023.
She finally saw Stewart on Aug. 8, 10 and 14 of 2023, “but by that time, her left nipple could not be salvaged. It was too late,” wrote Edwards.
The complaint contains graphic close-up photographs of her ruptured breast with internal flesh protruding from it.
By Aug. 14, 2023, a physical therapist documented foul odor, drainage and hardened tissue in her left breast, and professionals discussed “maggot therapy” for eating the dead tissue, the complaint says.
Jennings started maggot therapy Aug. 23, 2023, reportedly.
The complaint shows a photo of a burst breast with maggots inside the pulpy red flesh.
“She had maggots wiggling around in her bra while at work,” Edwards wrote. “Some of the maggots fell out of her shirt onto her work surface ... (But) Dr. Stewart’s Sept. 1, 2023, note stated that Ms. Jennings was ‘overall making great progress.’”
The complaint says Jennings documented her problems, communicated with medical providers and followed medical instructions. Edwards embedded a screenshot of a text exchange between Jennings and a medical assistant, asking about how to dress the “opened area” and the “black area.”
“As a result of her complications,” the complaint continues, “Ms. Jennings’ left breast is now disfigured and unrecognizable as a breast.”
A photo shows a breast with split flesh and a maroon scar where the nipple should be.
Mommy Makeover
Next, the complaint lists Duncan’s claims.
In 2022, she was a 28-year-old married mother of twins and had been married for more than six years.
After her C-section and breastfeeding the twins, she was interested in having a “mommy makeover,” the complaint says, adding that she interviewed five surgeons before deciding to work with Stewart.
Stewart performed a variety of surgeries Feb. 10, 2023, but “unilaterally added midline abdominal incisions without prior discussion or consent” once Duncan was in a gown with an IV hooked into her, Edwards wrote.
The complaint alleges that Stewart, Snyder and Summit didn’t give Duncan wound care instructions, education or training after her surgery, and that post-operative complications followed.
“None of the (post-op) text messages or photos … were made part of Ms. Duncan’s medical record,” says the document.
Duncan returned to New Beautiful You on March 3, 2023, with redness, swelling and warmth in her right breast, the document says. By March 8, 2023, the breast had opened and was draining yellow liquid, prompting Stewart to deem it infected, wrote Edwards.
Stewart noted she needed a Gore-Tex suture removed, and drainage that day. He arranged for further treatment the next day, says the complaint.
On March 12, 2023, Duncan’s issues worsened, the document says, and she texted Markowski that her skin was “kind of just tearing open.”
Markowski reportedly advised Duncan to pack the skin and keep it clean until her appointment for the next day.
‘I Feel Like I’m Plagued’
Stewart documented improvements March 13, 2023, “Yet, Ms. Duncan’s (nipple area) looked like this,” says the complaint, which shows a photograph of a wound nearly half the size of the nipple region, lodged between that region and the rest of the breast.
Two days later, Duncan texted Markowski a rash on her legs, asking if it was from antibiotics. Stewart noted the rash, and told Duncan she could stop antibiotics and take Benadryl twice a day, the complaint says.
Complications persisted.
On March 26, 2023, Duncan reported her breast was still infected and asked if she could come into the clinic.
“My mental health is suffering immensely,” she reportedly texted the nurse, also noting she had a sinus infection and was on antibiotics once again. “I feel like I’m plagued.”
Stewart on March 29, 2023, logged a note that Duncan’s breast was “doing well,” says the complaint, adding that “no record was made” of a later visit that happened April 5, 2023.
The lawsuit lists other issues, including scarring and a need for a follow-up procedure.
Duncan woke “feeling terrible but went to work out of necessity on April 25, 2023 — 74 days after the initial surgery,” Edwards wrote.
She texted Markowski that she was “scared about infection” in her abdominal area, and the site felt warm. The complaint contains screenshots of the text exchange in which Duncan had sent photographs of her scarred, blotched, maroon-colored abdomen.
Duncan went twice to New Beautiful You to see Stewart that day, but was told she didn’t have an infection. So, she returned to work, the complaint says.
Within an hour of returning to work, her abdominal incision “burst open,” discharging a significant amount of pus and blood in the front office of her workplace, a busy investment company, Edwards wrote.
“The event was both traumatic and deeply humiliating,” the attorney continued.
The complaint alleges that Stewart’s documentation of the following visit “failed to capture the gravity of the event,” and called the condition “mild erythema.”
He prescribed a five-day course of antibiotics, the complaint says, and noted a surgery planned for that Friday.
The next day, Stewart noted that Duncan returned to New Beautiful You with worsening pain, redness in her right thigh, chills and body aches. He drained the area and arranged for it to be packed with betadine-soaked gauze, noted signs of early sepsis and ordered a different antibiotic, the complaint says.
The document shows a photograph of the burst wound, with packing inside it.
Duncan texted Markowski on May 28, 2023, about the infection site and a “weeping wound” on her breast, the document says.
She was told to use antibiotic ointment and gauze dressings during a June 1, 2023, visit to New Beautiful You, reportedly.
'I'd Rather Be Dead'
On June 5, 2023, Duncan texted Markowski that she woke sweaty in the night and had “bubbling and separating” in her breast, the complaint says.
“I get the impression I’m going to be sick so fast if I don’t start antibiotics,” texted Duncan, adding, “I don’t want a resistance to them either.”
Markowski related that Stewart was advising against antibiotics, and that Duncan should monitor the wound and avoid touching it, the complaint alleges.
“It starts like this every time and then I’m so sick,” wrote Duncan, reportedly. “I’d rather be dead in 24 hours.”
Markowski scheduled a June 6, 2023, appointment.
Stewart assured Duncan she was “overall making progress” and there were just small, superficial scabs, and that she should return in one month, says the document.
It shows a photograph of small, weeping wounds on a breast, and says the photograph was shot June 13, 2023 — 123 days after the surgery.
That same day, she reported vomiting and nausea. Two days later, she reported weak and peeling skin. Then she made a June 16, 2023 appointment, “but no record was made of her visit,” wrote Edwards.
Duncan asked for antibiotics June 23, 2023, and send a photograph of an infected area, and Stewart “remarked that he intended to involve wound care services,” the complaint says.
It adds: “At that point, Dr. Stewart effectively gave up on her care and referred her elsewhere.”
On July 6, 2023, Stewart noted that her right breast was getting better, though she had skin issues elsewhere and he planned for a laser of her abdominal scar, the document says.
“Despite alarming reports of pus, blood, systemic symptoms and repeated pleas for antibiotics,” wrote Edwards, “Dr. Stewart and NBY either refused to evaluate Duncan promptly or instructed her directly or through untrained surrogates to ‘just keep doing what you are doing.’”
Yet, the lawsuit says, Stewart logged numerous entries through the month saying Duncan was “overall doing well,” “overall healing well” or “overall making progress.”
Duncan endured three episodes of sepsis, multiple urinary-tract and kidney infections and debilitating pain, wrote Edwards.
Markowski and Roussalis could not be reached for comment by publication time.
Snyder and Black declined to comment for this story.
Revoked
The complaint says Duncan learned in May 2025 that Summit had revoked Stewart’s surgical privileges.
Memorial Hospital of Converse County, which oversees Summit, did not respond by publication time to a Monday request for comment.
Edwards wrote that though Wyoming law generally only lets people sue governmental entities (like Memorial Hospital of Converse County) within two years of the discovery of the alleged wrong, there’s an exception. That’s when the alleged wrong is “not reasonably discoverable” within those two years, or the person suing failed to discover the wrong within those two years despite “due diligence.”
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
