A woman's case against her plastic surgeon who gave her before-and-after photos to a TV reporter will head to trial, a Utah court ruled last week.

Conilyn Judge from Salt Lake City, Utah, is suing her plastic surgeon, Renato Saltz, MD and his practice for allegedly providing her naked pre- and post-operative photos showing the results of her plastic surgery to an evening news program without her approval.

Representatives for Dr. Saltz did not respond to Outpatient Surgery's requests for comment.

In the case, Ms. Judge underwent plastic surgery on her breasts and torso in 2006. Before surgery, court documents show that Ms. Judge signed 2 consent forms that included language about consenting to be photographed or televised before, during or after the procedure for "medical, scientific or education purposes, provided my identity is not revealed by the photos."

More than a year after the procedure, Dr. Saltz was approached by a TV news reporter for help on a story about how patients can select the right plastic surgeon. Dr. Saltz asked Ms. Judge if she would be willing to be interviewed for the story, which she agreed to. During the interview, she praised Dr. Saltz and said she was "really pleased" with the results. They also filmed a "mock medical exam," during which Ms. Judge was allegedly concerned about showing any cleavage and thigh on camera, according to court records.

While Ms. Judge was changing after the shoot, the reporter asked Dr. Saltz for before-and-after photos of Ms. Judge and other patients for the program. Dr. Saltz told the court that his office manager asked Ms. Judge for consent to release her clinical photographs, however, the reporter denied this "even though her denial subjected her employer, Fox News, to liability," court records state.

Later that day, the office manager sent the reporter the photos, which depicted Ms. Judge nude from the neck down to her thigh. For the news report, which was then published online and broadcast on television, the news outlet placed black bars to cover Ms. Judge's breasts and pelvic area. Though Ms. Judge's face was not shown in the photos, the reporter identified her in them on air.

Upon seeing the photos in the news report, Ms. Judge contacted Fox News, which then removed the pictures from the online story and re-edited the original program. Ms. Judge sued Dr. Saltz and his practice, as well as Fox News, for violating her privacy. The case against the Fox was later settled.

Dr. Saltz's attorneys allegedly pointed out in court that Ms. Judge agreed to do the program, and that she couldn't claim a privacy violation because she had worn a bikini in public before, which covered little more than the photos. While a lower court agreed with Dr. Saltz and granted him summary judgment, an appeals court overturned the ruling. The Utah Supreme Court recently agreed with the appeals court and ruled that the case should go to trial.

Greg Hoole, an attorney representing Ms. Judge, called the disclosure of the photographs and Dr. Saltz's subsequent defense of the disclosure "outrageous."

"Dr. Saltz requires each of his patients to sign a similar release, and it is his position that this alone gives him the right to disclose and identify his patients' photographs to the news media for use in stories he deems to be educational," says Mr. Hoole. "I suspect that not a single one of Dr. Saltz's patients would agree with Dr. Saltz that this form gives Dr. Saltz the right to disclose, let alone identify, their nude before-and-after photographs to the news media, regardless of the purported purpose for which the news media wants to use them."

Kendal Gapinski