Dr. Frank Ryan

Heidi Montag is trying to assassinate the character of a dead man

Some friends of the late plastic surgeon Dr. Frank Ryan -- who died in August after his car plunged off a cliff in Malibu -- are a little pissed with Heidi Montag for leaking some emails that suggest the doctor was trying to use her to become famous. Wait, don't you actually have to be famous for someone to use you to become famous? From the New York Post:

Radaronline.com published e-mails between Ryan and Montag after he performed 10 surgeries in one day on the reality star. In them, Ryan asked Montag if she wanted injectibles such as Botox and if she could wear T-shirts promoting his children's foundation.

Dawn DaLuise, a friend of Ryan's family, tells us, "It's desecrating him, it's denigrating a person who can't defend themselves. It's really abhorrent." DaLuise says Ryan would routinely ask his celebrity clients to visit the charity's ranch to publicize the foundation and offer them touch-up procedures in between surgeries. She said, "The difference between offering Botox and performing surgery is similar to a well-meaning dentist encouraging patients to floss and brush daily versus offering to do root canal on every tooth."

Nothing exudes class like kicking a person when they're down -- six feet below the surface. If Heidi isn't happy with the way that her plastic surgeries have come out, she doesn't need to badmouth the man she paid to perform them. She just needs to do what every insecure chick with fake blonde hair and silicone tits does when they're down and out in Hollywood: porn.

*11 Heidi Montag pictures total in the gallery: