People v. Silberman CA6

BACKGROUND

Defendant owned a business called Shiny Toes, with facilities in San Jose, San Ramon, and San Francisco. Each of the victims in this case went to Shiny Toes to get laser treatment for toenail fungus. At the San Jose facility, defendant usually performed the laser treatments. At the San Ramon and San Francisco facilities, the laser treatments were performed by women that defendant had hired. Defendant was charged with 20 counts of practicing medicine without a license (Bus. & Prof. Code, § 2052, subd. (a)2) and one count of willfully causing a child to suffer unjustifiable physical pain or mental suffering (§ 273a, subd. (b)). At trial, the prosecutor argued there were four ways in which the jury could find defendant practiced medicine without a license, as to the victims he personally treated: (1) by diagnosing a medical condition; (2) by treating a medical condition; (3) by advertising himself as a doctor; and (4) by holding himself out as a doctor. The prosecutor argued that defendant

2 Business and Professions Code section 2052, subdivision (a) provides: ―[A]ny person who practices or attempts to practice, or who advertises or holds himself or herself out as…