Women Sue over Topless Pictures Posted on Plastic Surgeon’s Website
 |
October 4, 2011 TheFreshOutlook  |
Former patients have filed a complaint after plastic surgeon posted topless pictures of women on website and revealed their names.
Former patients of a Missouri plastic surgeon have filed several lawsuits after topless pictures were discovered on the internet along with their names.
Dr Michele Koo had posted private medical ‘before and after’ photos of her patients to showcase her skills, but made the mistake of revealing their identity when the cursor passed over the pictures.
These litigants, listed as Jane Does, have claimed that the plastic surgeon failed to protect their identities.
The women have been suing for the past month for invasion of privacy, counts of unreasonable publicity, breach of fiduciary duty and wrongful commercial appropriation and exploitation of the plaintiff’s image and medical information.
The photos have since been removed from the website.
The photos show the women from the chin down to the waist, with no faces showing, but once a cursor is moved over the body, it reveals their names.
It is thought that at least five women are suing and two more are in the process of filing a lawsuit, but up to 20-30 women could be affected, according to their attorney.
They allege that friends and co-workers had access to these photos via search engines such as Google as the photos were linked with names.
Usually patients who undergo treatment with a plastic surgeon would have to sign a written waiver agreeing for ‘before and after’ photos to be taken and used either for websites or medical journals.
According to Dr Koo, patients who had work done by her had given permission to use their unidentifiable photos on their website showing photographs of breast augmentation or tummy tucks.
Although all the women had signed the waiver to use their photo, their attorney Neil Bruntrager claimed they did not sign to waiver their identity and for their names to be revealed.
He said the agreement explicitly prohibits publishing names with photos.
Dr Koo released in a written statement: “I want to say that I am very sorry that this internet problem occurred. I have apologised personally to the patients involved.
“I sincerely regret that the protective mechanisms supposedly set up by my former web host failed and allowed this problem to occur.
“When I learned of this issue, I personally advised the small number of patients what had happened. I asked my web host immediately to remove the images. We also took steps to assure that this kind of data breach cannot be repeated.”
By Rebekah Bickerton
[Image Courtesy of w2scott ]
