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Greensboro Spa Patient Wins $500,000 North Carolina Personal Injury Lawsuit Against Alternative Medicine Spa

A 38-year-old Greensboro woman won a $500,000 judgment against an alternative medicine spa that she sued for North Carolina personal injury. Shirleen Sifford says she sustained a serious blood infection nearly two years ago after she was treated at Altmed of the Triad for a procedure to reduce fat in her stomach.

She says she received some 100 injections over the course of three spa visits. Sifford was trying to lose weight before she got pregnant.

Because complications resulted from the infection, Sifford says she has to take steroid shots and that this has delayed her plans to start having children. While Sifford did not file a complaint with the Guilford County Health Department, a number of spa patients reportedly filed complaints for botched procedures they received at the Greensboro spa.

In December 2007, three women said that after receiving buttocks-enhancing injections at the spa, they developed acute kidney failure. The injections were reportedly administered without medical supervision. As a result of these incidents, 20 felony charges of prescription fraud were filed against Lauretta Cheek, the spa?s owner.

Cheek did not appear in court for Sifford?s case, and now the judge has issued the half a million dollar judgment in the plaintiff?s favor. Included in the judgment are $3,500 for lost wages and $5,200 for medical costs.

Sifford says that the botched procedure not only left her with the blood infection, but she now has small nodules and scars under her skin and she has gained weight because of the medication she has to take.

Spas that provide medical procedures are obligated to maintaining the same standard of services that other medical providers are expected to give their patients. When mistakes made during a botched cosmetic procedure causes the patient to get sick, hurt, or die, the spa and others responsible for the botched medical procedure can be held liable for personal injury or wrongful death.

Spa patient is awarded $500,000, News-Record, January 19, 2009

Spa investigation slowed by need for coordination, News-Record, August 21, 2008

Related Web Resources:
Prosecutors may decide on Altmed case this week, News-Record, January 28, 2009

Full post as published by North Carolina Injury Lawyer Blog on February 11, 2009 (boomark / email).