The Vancouver woman who violated a court order banning her from performing unlicensed Botox and other injections has had her six-month jail sentence cut in half by the B.C. Court of Appeal.
“It is disproportionate to the appellant’s conduct and a marked departure from sentences imposed in like circumstances,” a Nov. 12 decision said.
Maria Ezzati appealed the original sentence imposed following a second finding of civil contempt involving the unauthorized practice of medicine, the court said.
In breach of an injunction, Ezzati injected clients with botulinum toxin and dermal fillers.
Some of those events happened at December 2019 and February 2020 ‘Botox parties’ where a total of 35 people were injected.
Ezzati who is not licensed by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of B.C. to practise medicine, admitted that between Aug. 31, 2018, and May 28, 2020, she repeatedly violated an interim injunction by presenting herself as qualified to practise medicine, purporting to examine and advise others as to their suitability for a botulinum toxin or dermal filler injection for cosmetic purposes and injecting clients with those substances.
On Aug. 24, 2018, Ezzati was found in contempt of court for breaching an injunction imposed to prevent her from engaging in similar conduct. Specifically, the court said, she was found to have advertised medical procedures and held herself out as being qualified to practice medicine, referred to herself as ‘Dr.’ in promotional materials and consent forms, and discussed with and advised clients of the risks and benefits of botulinum and dermal filler injections.
For the first contempt, she was ordered to pay a fine of $5,000 and one-half of the college’s special costs.
The sentence for the second contempt was stayed and Ezzati got bail pending her appeal. She served 29 days and has since been released.
Ezzati was first ordered by the college in 2017 to stop administering Botox or dermal fillers. However, she continued to operate and promote herself as a “doctor."
A court fight between March 2018 and August 2019 ended in Ezzati being found in contempt of court, with a judge reserving sentencing in January 2020.
But in February 2020, the college sent three undercover investigators to a Botox party hosted by Ezzati who recorded her injecting three individuals for cash payments.
The college got a search order at the time for Ezatti’s home and vehicle. The search was executed on February 20, 2020. Three boxes of botulinum toxin, nine boxes of dermal filler, roughly 615 syringes, promotional materials for ‘Dr. Maria Ezzati Cosmetic Procedures,’ and resumes in the name of Dr. Maria Ezzati were seized,” the court decision said.
Ezzati would eventually admit to her second contempt of court allegation related to the undercover sting after she had been fined $5,000 for the first original investigation.
The trial court accepted Ezatti has medical training.
Medical degrees seized from her office showed she received a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery and Bachelor of the Art of Obstetrics from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Medical University of Bahrain, and a licence from the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland in Medicine and Obstetrics.
The college said Botox cannot be sold or administered without a prescription and that the primary medical components of dermal fillers cannot be sold to a member of the public except by a licensed pharmacist, from the “professional service area” of a pharmacy.
