Jinette Bernal won an award of US$4.6 million in the Circuit Court, Miami-Dade County, Florida, against fake plastic surgeon, Reinaldo Silvestre, a Cuban doctor who left her virtually breast-less about 7 years ago.
After he was arrested in the US in 1999, Reinaldo fled to Belize and was nabbed in October 2004.
Silvestre, 66, had been practicing in Belize as a general practitioner at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital under the name Casteneda. He was also teaching at a local medical university before he was exposed for practicing without proper medical documentation. He volunteered to bypass extradition proceedings in court and was flown to Miami, where he was convicted earlier this year and sent to jail for practicing medicine without a license, grand theft and aggravated battery.
Judge Daryl Trawick heard the case on Monday and awarded Bernal US$4.6 million in damages.
Jinette Bernal sued Silvestre on an assault and battery theory, claiming that he represented himself to be a plastic surgeon and performed breast augmentation surgery on her when he was not qualified to do so.
She claims that Silvestre removed nearly all of her breast tissue, leaving her looking as if she had undergone a “double mastectomy.” Subsequently, her breasts were repaired by a real plastic surgeon at Baptist Hospital. The service was donated to her.
Silvestre has denied negligence, though he has admitted he was not properly licensed to perform the procedure.
The plaintiff’s attorney was Spencer Aronfeld of Coral Gables, Florida.
Silvestre represented himself.
His prison term ends in 2012.