Woman wins $18,000 compensation after photos of her naked surgically-enhanced breasts are posted online
She originally sued for $300,000
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Your support makes all the difference.A 39-year-old woman who sued her plastic surgeon after photographs of her breasts were posted online is set to receive $18,000 (£13,858) in compensation, a US jury ruled on Monday.
Mandi Stillwell, a photographer from Northern California, filed a lawsuit against a plastic surgeon in Fresno for $300,000 (£230,970) for lost wages and emotional distress after an innocent Google search of her name, revealed a string of photographs of her bare breasts.
According to a local newspaper, in addition to implants, Stillwell received a breast lift and a tummy tuck in March 2013, where she gave written consent for the surgery clinic to take before and after images of her torso.
She had agreed that the images could be posted online for marketing purposes, so long as she could maintain her anonymity.
It wasn’t until five months later that she found out about the photos being leaked, when a man she met on a dating site told her about them, much to her humiliation.
Stillwell reportedly fell into a deep state of depression after seeing the images and subsequently requested time off work.
An attorney for her plastic surgeon has explained that the images were mistakenly uploaded online and were promptly removed from the internet after Stillwell called the clinic to complain.
According to the local paper, court documents filed by the attorney also use a 2014 Facebook post by Stillwell as evidence that the 39-year-old was clearly not emotionally distressed about attracting attention to her breasts.
However, Stillwell’s lawyer has reportedly highlighted the clinic’s policy which explicitly states that patients’ medical information should remain private and protected.
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