'Name And Shame' Results In Lawsuit

A cosmetic surgeon filed a defamation lawsuit against a patient who posted Internet photos of what she said was botched surgery and called him a "butcher."

Dr. Joel Feldman, a former board member of the American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, told The Boston Globe his lawsuit against Lucille Iacovelli, 52, was necessary to defend "my reputation and the caring that I've given to my patients."

The last straw, he said, came in March when a woman walked into his Cambridge office with Iacovelli's photos and canceled surgery.

In an interview published Tuesday in the Globe, Iacovelli said she was forced to go public because Feldman was trying to silence her and she couldn't get her concerns addressed medically. She said she wanted to sue him, but her lawyer told her he couldn't get an expert witness to back her.

"Originally, I admit, I wanted to name and shame them," she said of Feldman and two doctors who performed a face lift and nose job on her nearly five years ago. "Now I want to warn other people: This is a dangerous business. If something bad happens, you may never be able to get any answers."

Feldman won a court order in May requiring Iacovelli to remove any misleading photos or defamatory statements from the Internet. She's also been barred from contacting Feldman and the two other surgeons. That order came after she sent letters saying the doctors should "rot in hell" and offering to mail them her severed head after her death so they could dissect it and see what went wrong.

She also told the doctors to "Enjoy your (smile) while you can. It may be permanently wiped off your face when you least expect it," the Globe reported.

Iacovelli, who works as a gardener at the Quashnet Valley Golf Club in Mashpee, said she never would have become violent.

Iacovelli had the surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital. Feldman looked on as one of the two other doctors performed the nose job. The face lift was performed by the other doctor.

Iacovelli said was pleased at first, but grew dissatisfied. The pictures she posted on the Internet seemed to show her neck looking wrinkled a year after a face lift.

Iacovelli eventually had surgery in Indiana that smoothed out her face and neck, but, she said, left her with painful neurological problems. The Massachusetts General doctors said they had decided to move on, viewing the case as a reminder for better patient screening. But Feldman sued in Suffolk County Superior Court when Iacovelli stepped up her campaign against him.