Tort Law
New Jersey Woman Sues Surgeon Over Temporary Rose Tattoo
Posted Jul 18, 2008, 03:12 pm CDT
By Martha Neil
A New Jersey woman has sued the doctor who operated on her back for a herniated disk--not because of any issue with the surgery, but because of what she found on her front the next day: a temporary red rose tattoo.
Recounts the Philadelphia Inquirer: "The patient discovered the tattoo below the panty line the next morning, when her husband was helping her get dressed to go home after the operation."
Her lawyer, Gregg Shivers, says plaintiff Elizabeth Mateo was "extremely emotionally upset" about the unauthorized body decoration apparently created while she was under general anesthesia. She was reportedly lying on her stomach during the back surgery, which was performed at Virtua Memorial Hospital in Burlington County. Mateo is a clerical worker in her mid-30s, according to Shivers.
But Robert Agre, a lawyer for Steven Kirshner, 51, a board-certified orthopedic surgeon, says his client--who doesn't deny that he made the tattoo on Mateo, and has previously left what the newspaper describes as "washable marks" on other patients--says he has done this to improve their spirits after surgery, the newspaper reports.
No one else has complained, and "what's offensive about this complaint is that it suggests something he did was intended to be prurient, and nothing could be further from the truth," Agre says. "It was intended just to make the patient feel better."
Art Caplan, who chairs the medical ethics department at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, says there is a legal basis for the Camden County Superior Court suit, if it is true that a doctor left an unauthorized mark on the patient's body. "You cannot do something like this even as a joke," he says.
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Comments
Posted by sb - 2 months, 2 weeks, 6 days, 8 hours, 39 minutes ago
That’s crap; The good doctor’s argument may fly if, for instance, he left the tattoo on her arm, or maybe even her shoulder, but her pelvic area?? That’s just plain wrong. If I woke up and found a sticker on my junk, I sure as heck wouldn’t “feel better.”
Posted by feeling is not substantial harm - 2 months, 2 weeks, 3 days, 20 hours, 22 minutes ago
Does anyone know, after back surgery does the patient then spend time recovering on her back, or lying on her stomach?
Posted by Phil Davis, Esq. - 2 months, 2 weeks, 3 days, 9 hours, 13 minutes ago
Was the surgery successful? I like a doc who feels confident/competent enough in his surgical ability & the prognosis of his patient to send her/him home w/ flowers.
I really appreciate this surgeons sense of humor but then again some are perhaps more aware of what is really important in life. I suppose that I should be grateful that litigation still thrives in NJ & the rest of the USA. I defend helmet litigation involving catastrophic neck & head injuries. The damage usually involves a significant, irreversable brain or
neck injury and permanent quadraplegia to a high school player whose life is ruined in a split second by an event (contact) that no helmet could prevent. I wonder how that kid (or the cheerleader who fractures her neck performing a complicated cheer) would feel or how much they would give to awaken from surgery & find that they were ok but had a temporary rose tattoo below their navel and were otherwise fine.
Not !!! They are told by yhe doc that they will never walk again or the parents are informed that their child will need 24/7 care for the rest of their lives. I’ll take the well intended flower every time.
Posted by MissL. - 2 months, 2 weeks, 1 day, 5 hours, 21 minutes ago
I appreciate the post that Phil Davis wrote. I would have confronted the doctor about it before I did anything else. I have had kind, humorous doctors in my lifetime, It means a lot to me because I am a coward. I think I would certainly be correct if I had a notion about the morals of this doctor. She would have had to have some interaction with this doctor for such a surgery. Can’t you tell if you have good or not so good feelings if allowing him to perform the surgery?
I think what she has done is outrageous and is found out for what she is really like. A 30-year-old clerical worker should be very grateful that there were resources for her. Maybe she had wonderful insurance, as a lot of people have none at all which spells a lot of grief for these people.
I feel angry about this. She should be very grateful to have access to this surgery and be restored. Instead, she slaps him in the face. She should feel ashamed of herself.
Posted by Kyle - 2 months, 2 weeks, 3 hours, 38 minutes ago
What that doctor did was disgusting. Lke sb said, if it was meant as a “feel better” token, it should have been above the panty line and something without such romantic implications. I would have been skeeved beyond belief.
And as for MissL, how many surgeries have you undergone? Personally, I’ve undergone two, and interacted with the doctors less than ten minutes. Even months of chatting with your doctor may not provide you with a good compass of their morals, as not many people will think to ask, “by the way, when I’m unconscious and vulnerable, will you use that time to put markings on my body in an area you shouldn’t be anywhere near?” Probably not. BECAUSE NO ONE SHOULD HAVE TO!
If the doctor really wants to make people feel better, he should wait til their conscious, pop in for a visit, and take out a marker or a tattoo then.
And as for her being “grateful that there were resources for her”, what is that supposed to mean?! If someone pours rat poison in your fast food, should you not sue and just be grateful that you have the resources to obtain food? You should be - not a lot of people have that!
Man, if anyone thinks this is okay, it’s only a matter of time before that Doctor who CARVED his initials into a woman with a scalpel while she was out under surgery is considered the victim.....