In October 2022, Azul Jaffer, M.D. performed a breast augmentation procedure on Michelle Maestas. Maestas alleged that she woke up in the recovery room to Dr. Jaffer pressing his penis against her feet, rubbing her vagina with his ungloved hand then putting her fingers in her mouth, and using Maestas’s hand to rub his penis. Maestas further alleged that Dr. Jaffer touched her vagina again as she used the restroom.
Maestas sued Jaffer and his practice, Azul Plastic Surgery, for assault, sexual assault, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, and gross negligence. After filing a general denial, Jaffer and Azul moved to dismiss, arguing that Maestas had brought a healthcare liability claim, which required that she serve an expert report under the Texas Medical Liability Act. TEX.CIV.PRAC.&REM.CODE§74.351(a). Her failure to serve the expert report, they argued, entitled Jaffer and Azul to dismissal. See id.§ 74.351(b). The trial court denied the motion to dismiss.
To qualify as a health care liability claim under the Texas Medical Liability Act (TMLA): (1) the claim must be asserted against a physician or health care provider; (2) it must pertain to (a) treatment, (b) lack of treatment, or (c) other claimed departure from accepted standards of (i) medical care, (ii) health care, (iii) safety, or (iv) professional or administrative services directly related to health care; and (3) the alleged departure must proximately cause injury or death to the claimant. §74.001(a)(13).
Thus, a health care liability claim has three elements: (1) a suit against a physician or health care provider; (2) the claims are grounded in treatment, lack of treatment, or a departure from accepted standards of medical care, health care, or safety or professional or administrative services directly related to health care; and (3) the defendant’s act or omission must have proximately caused the injury to the plaintiff. The TMLA creates a rebuttable presumption that a plaintiff’s claim is a health care liability claim if it is brought against a physician or health care provider and is based on facts “implicating the defendant’s conduct during the course of a patient’s care, treatment, or confinement.”
The Court of Appeals for the First District of Texas stated in its March 26, 2024 Memorandum Opinion: “First, Maestas does not complain about the procedure she had performed at Azul, only the alleged offensive touching as she came out of the procedure. Second, nothing in the record suggests that Maestas consented to Jaffer allegedly touching her with his penis when she consented to the breast augmentation procedure. Third, the only possible relationship between the alleged sexual assault and the breast augmentation procedure is that it happened in a surgical recovery room and was committed by the physician. Although courts have found that assaults by health care personnel or patients during treatment were health care liability claims triggering the TMLA, those cases are distinguishable … As our sister court concluded in a similar sexual assault claim, “it would defy logic to suggest that [this] sexual assault, is an inseparable part of the rendition of medical care or a departure from accepted standards of health care.””
“There is a separate reason to conclude that Maestas’s claims are not health care liability claims here: their proof requires no expert testimony. It does not require professional medical judgment to conclude that allegations of sexual assault by a treating physician fall outside acceptable safety or medical standards.”
Source Azul Shirazali Jaffer, M.D. v. Michelle Maestas, No. 01-23-00541-CV.
UPDATE: From the Texas Medical Board website on January 15, 2026:
Action Date: 12/30/2025
Description: ON DECEMBER 30, 2025, A DISCIPLINARY PANEL OF THE TEXAS MEDICAL BOARD TEMPORARILY SUSPENDED, WITHOUT NOTICE, THE TEXAS MEDICAL LICENSE OF AZUL SHIRAZ JAFFER, M.D., AFTER DETERMINING HIS CONTINUATION IN THE PRACTICE OF MEDICINE POSES A CONTINUING THREAT TO PUBLIC WELFARE. THE SUSPENSION WAS EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY. THE BOARD PANEL FOUND THAT DR. JAFFER HABITUALLY USED DRUGS OR INTOXICATING LIQUORS TO THE EXTENT THAT IT INTERFERES WITH HIS ABILITY TO PRACTICE MEDICINE SAFELY. A TEMPORARY SUSPENSION HEARING WITH NOTICE WILL BE HELD AS SOON AS PRACTICABLE WITH 10 DAYS’ NOTICE TO DR. JAFFER UNLESS THE HEARING IS SPECIFICALLY WAIVED BY DR. JAFFER. THE TEMPORARY SUSPENSION REMAINS IN PLACE UNTIL THE BOARD TAKES FURTHER ACTION.
If you or a loved one were sexually assaulted by a physician or another health care provider in Texas or in another U.S. state, you should promptly find a Texas medical malpractice attorney, or a medical malpractice attorney in your state, who may investigate your sexual assault malpractice claim for you and represent you or your loved one in a sexual assault malpractice case, if appropriate.
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