According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, A New Jersey woman files a lawsuit against her orthopedic surgeon because when she awakened from surgery she discovered a temporary tattoo below her panty line.

Elizabeth Mateo, from Camden County, N.J., is asking for punitive and compensatory damages from Dr. Steven Kirshner, a board-certified surgeon at Virtua Memorial Hospital in New Jersey. The doctor is blamed with placing a tattoo showing a red rose on her body during a herniated-disc operation.

Gregg A. Shivers, the patient’s attorney, told the Philadelphia Inquirer that his client “was extremely emotionally upset” by the Kirshner’s action. The surgeon admits to having applied the red rose and his lawyer, Robert Agre, brings the justification that he did so to lift the spirits of his patient. "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."

Throughout Kirshner’s career, no complaints have been made. According to the New Jersey State Board of Medical Examiners, there is no record of previous actions against Kirshner.

Shivers told the Inquirer morning daily newspaper that Mateo wants to know what really took place and when the temporary tattoo was applied.

In line with the statement of a former president of the American Psychological Association, this act is not part of the doctor-patient rapport. "Unless you think you are Georgia O'Keeffe and you think people's bodies are your canvas, why would you take that risk?"said Frank Farley.