A recent jury verdict in Staten Island, New York highlights medical malpractice cases focusing on cosmetic surgery. A jury awarded a Staten Island woman 3.5 million dollars during medical malpractice litigation over an alleged botched breast implant surgery. As part of her allegations, the woman alleged that she suffered significant disfigurement of her breasts as a result of a "double bubble," and claimed that her 17-year marriage came to an end because of her embarrassment of undressing in front of her husband. She underwent two separate additional surgeries in trying to correct the condition.

Claims related to cosmetic surgeries are often one of the most difficult type of medical malpractice claims to pursue. First, often times juries are not receptive to such claims due to the fact that the surgeries are generally elective in nature to correct a cosmetic "deficiency" which the jury may not view as "problematic". Rhinoplasty (nose jobs) and breast augmentation (breast implant) surgeries are typical types of surgeries that lend themselves well to this theory. If the jurors perceive that the original surgery as unnecessary or undertaken solely as a result of the vanity of the plaintiff, the jury may not be sympathetic to the plaintiff's claims. Although this does not relieve a medical doctor of his duties to abide by the appropriate standards of care, such non-sympathetic jurors may give the doctor the "benefit of the doubt" when it comes to deciding the issue of malpractice.

Another potential problem with these types of cases relate to the often subjective nature of the claim. While the plaintiff may view the surgery as unsuccessful for some reason (it doesn't look like he or she thought it would), the medical doctor may take the position that the surgery was a success. Because "beauty is in the eye of the beholder," there may be an issue as to what the doctor "promised" and what they actually delivered.

Finally, such cosmetic type malpractice claims are no different than every other medical malpractice claim, in that it must be proven that the doctor somehow deviated from the accepted standard of medical care in the treatment of the plaintiff. Despite the potential problems described above, there are many valid cosmetic surgical malpractice claims, which should be pursued as indicated by the above Staten Island jury verdict. As in all areas of the law, the nature of each claim is dependent upon the specific facts and circumstances under which it occurred and must be thoroughly reviewed by an attorney.

A recent settlement in a nursing home malpractice wrongful death claim raises questions as to the current state of the law in New Jersey concerning nursing home malpractice. Although the terms of the settled case were confidential, the decedent's family alleged that he was mis-treated while he was a resident in the defendants' nursing home, which resulted in his death. Specifically, the family alleged that the 87 year old fell to the floor when nursing home staff improperly handled his transfer from bed to wheelchair. He developed a blood infection thereafter, due to the staff's improper care of his resulting pressure sores, and the blood infection directly caused his death.

In New Jersey, nursing homes and their staff will be responsible for negligent care of a resident. A large majority of the cases that are filed today allege injuries arising from negligent supervision of the patient, improper bed-to-chair or chair-to-bed transfers of the patient, or improper treatment of pressure sores or bed sores. Through the course of litigation, due to the fact that generally, these claims are filed against licensed individuals such as nurses or patient care assistants, a nursing, medical other health care medical expert will usually be required to establish that a standard of care has been breached.

Nursing homes have their own standards by which their nurses, care assistants and employees must abide. Further, governmental entities such as the Department of Health and Human Services also promulgate regulations by which nursing homes and their staff must abide. Many times, however, discovery in nursing home litigations reveal that the nursing home is understaffed and the professionals working there are unable to meet the requirements of policies and procedures put in place by management or the government regulators. Sadly and unfortunately, it is the patient that ultimately suffers.

Of course, patients who are injured as a result of nursing home malpractice are entitled to the same measure of damages that one would be entitled to in any personal injury or medical malpractice case - past and future pain and suffering, past and future disability and impairment, and loss of enjoyment of life. Given the relative age of the average nursing home patient, however, prospective future damages are generally limited. Thus, the New Jersey Legislature has passed a statute that allows for punitive damages and an award of counsel fees in the event that an attorney can show that the nursing home staff has violated either Federal or State regulations resulting in injuries to a patient.

Accordingly, in the event you suspect that a nursing home staff is mis-treating you or a relative, you should immediately contact an attorney. A skilled attorney will likely alert the appropriate state agency as soon as possible, so that an investigation will be conducted and any and all necessary evidence to establish malpractice will be preserved.

A jury recently awarded $25.8 million to a family of a Florida mother who died after suffering a massive stroke. The massive stroke was the result of a wrongly filled prescription at a Florida Walgreen's' store. Unfortunately, it was learned that allegedly a high school student who was reportedly assisting the pharmacist on duty made the actual mistake with the prescription medication.

Like other New Jersey malpractice cases, most that allege pharmaceutical malpractice require the use of an expert to identify what standards of care the pharmacist or the pharmacy employees may have violated. Most pharmaceutical malpractice cases arise when the pharmacist or pharmacy staff dispenses the improper medication. This may occur, as it did in the above jury verdict, where the pharmacy staff dispenses the wrong medication or the right medication and the wrong dosage. It may also occur where the pharmacist mis-reads the prescription provided by the medical doctor. Although the pharmacist usually has a duty to clarify what the prescription says, the pharmacist may not know that an error has occurred. Other such cases occur where the pharmacist fails to recognize a potential adverse drug interaction where a patient's new prescription is contraindicated to a prescribed medication that they are currently taking.

The second part of a pharmacist malpractice case deals with the damages sustained by the person that was prescribed the wrong medication. Damages can range from short-term effects of the improper medication to long-term effects to wrongful death. The other factor that must be considered is the length of time that the patient did not take their correct medication and whether the patient suffered as a result of not taking he proper prescription for his or her medical condition. For instance, there may be an increased incidence of recurrence of a disease if the proper medication is not taken in correct dosages or within the correct time frame. Evidence showing that the claimant suffered because he or she wasn't treating his or her medical condition could support an award of damages.

The important thing to remember as a victim of such malpractice is to preserve any and all evidence including, but not limited to, all paperwork received from the pharmacy, all paperwork received form your medical doctor, the prescription pill bottle with all labels attached and any unused portion of the improper medication. These steps may allow an attorney to quickly and efficiently evaluate any potential case.