Photos of a Woman’s Post-Surgery Naked Body Leaked to the Press
An unidentified woman has a lot to be upset about after opening a local newspaper and seeing pictures of her own naked body plastered within.
Identified only as “Jane Doe” on court records, the woman was reading the Riverfront Times newspaper when she glimpsed the photos that were taken of her after what she referred to as a botched cosmetic surgery. The small photos showing her mid section did not show her face and were not identifiable, but that didn’t stop the woman from suing the doctors who did the surgery.
The doctors are connected to the Body Aesthetic Plastic Surgery and Skin Care Center in Creve Coeur, MO. They have insisted that the photos were never supposed to be printed, but the newspaper editors who used the photos in a story about cosmetic surgery insist that they never would have printed the photos without a the doctor’s permission.
Though the photos were not salacious and impossible to identify, the woman has said, “I can’t explain to you how horrified I was.” She sued the doctors for three million dollars and won the lawsuit, but the jury decided to only award her $100,000 in compensatory damages. The woman went on to file another suit against her doctors, this time for malpractice stemming from her unsatisfactory plastic surgery she received at their hands. That lawsuit was settled out of court.
This story perfectly illustrates the importance of privacy issues connected to cosmetic surgery. Though plastic surgery has come a long way from the days of women hiding themselves so no one would know they went “under the knife,” there is still a significant stigma against the procedures and now, more than ever, patient privacy must be protected at all costs. Plastic surgery like any other surgery is a private matter and doctors and hospitals must take their responsibilities to uphold their patient’s privacy seriously.
