Appeal denied for fake doctor who sexually abused patients
The state Supreme Court has denied the appeal of a San Francisco man who posed as a doctor and was convicted of assaulting nine patients, and sexually abusing two of them, in his fake medical clinic.
Carlos Guzman Garza opened his Derma Clinic in the Mission District, using the stolen identity of a Central Valley physician, and told patients he was a plastic surgeon.
Nine women testified that he had performed medical procedures on them, including surgery. One said he had smoked a cigar while performing liposuction in 2010. She later needed corrective surgery when her abdomen became infected.
Several women said he sexually assaulted them. One said he gave her pills and attacked her while she was incapacitated. Another woman said Guzman Garza told her the sexual contact was a necessary part of her skin treatment.
Guzman Garza was arrested in December 2011 and was convicted of 33 felonies in 2015. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
His appeal challenged the assault convictions on the grounds that the women had consented to physical contact, although their consent was obtained by fraud.
“He induced women to consent to these quoteunquote medical procedures and performed the procedures they consented to,” John Schuck, a court-appointed lawyer for Guzman Garza, said Thursday.
The First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco rejected the argument in January.
“Guzman Garza’s victims agreed to have medical procedures performed by a person they understood to be a licensed physician who was qualified to perform them,” Justice Peter Siggins said in a 3-0 ruling upholding the felony convictions.
“Instead, they were subjected to dangerous surgeries and other physically invasive procedures performed by an individual lacking any of the qualifications required for the practice of medicine,” Siggins said.
He said the women’s consent did not give Guzman Garza “free rein to perform unlicensed medical procedures with impunity.”
On Wednesday, the state Supreme Court unanimously denied review of Guzman Garza’s appeal. The case is People vs. Garza, S254032.