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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

What Were The Doctors Thinking?

ST. LOUIS - Without her permission, three plastic surgeons gave before-and-after nude photos of a patient to a reporter for an article on the surgeons' business, the woman claims in Federal Court. Plaintiff Jane Doe says the Body Aesthetic Plastic Surgery & Skin Care Center violated her privacy by giving the photos to a reporter for the Riverfront Times, which published them.

The woman says the defendants operated on her in October 2004 to remove excess skin after substantial weight loss. The doctors took before and after photos, showing full frontal nudity, as part of her medical records, and the photos were subject to confidentiality requirements of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, the suit states. The woman says she told the defendants, who also include Drs. V. Leroy Young, C.B. Boswell and Robert Centeno, not to distribute her photographs for any reason other than her treatment.

But she says they gave the photos to the reporter for an article in the Riverfront Times, a weekly newspaper published and distributed in the St. Louis area. The Times' April 20, 2006 edition included an article promoting the defendants' business and the types of plastic surgeries they performed, including penile implants, vaginal rejuvenation and sex change operations, the suit states. She says her photographs, depicting full frontal nudity, were included with the article.

She demands punitive damages and is represented by Richard Witzel.

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