Suit: Doctor put tattoo on patient

CAMDEN, N.J., July 16 (UPI) -- A Camden County, N.J., woman is suing her orthopedic surgeon after he rubbed a temporary tattoo onto her body while she was unconscious.

Elizabeth Mateo claims in her suit that she did not realize until the morning after the surgery that the surgeon, Steven Kirshner, had left a temporary tattoo of a rose on her abdomen while she was under anesthesia, the Philadelphia Enquirer reported Wednesday.

"She was extremely emotionally upset by it," said attorney Gregg Shivers, who filed the suit on Mateo's behalf in Camden County Superior Court.

The suit seeks punitive and compensatory damages from Kirshner.

The doctor admitted to placing the tattoo on Mateo but he denied any ill intent, the newspaper reported. He said he often rubs temporary tattoos on patients as a means of helping to raise their spirits after a stressful operation.

"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," said Kirshner's lawyer, Robert Agre. "It was intended just to make the patient feel better."