A door accidentally fell on him as a kid in Heredia's central market, which resulted in a head wound that left a permanent scar and a humerus fracture in his right arm that never aligned because it was not properly treated in time.

At least one doctor told him they had been the surgeons' fault, while an attorney convinced him Dr. Moreno should compensate him for the hardship and pain suffered.

Cortés later stated that he had gone to the hospital to get treated for a pain in his leg, and that Dr. Moreno took advantage of this to take a graft of bone from his healthy arm for a foreign patient.

When the maid opened the door he ran into the living room where Dr. Moreno was reading the newspaper and shot him three times.

José León Sánchez mentioned him in his book La isla de los hombres solos.

During President José Figueres' administration the country's penal code was reformed limiting Costa Rica's maximum penalty to 30 years in prison.