A Pennsylvania jury recently awarded $1.5 million to a 55-year-old man who suffered permanent scarring over his nose during a botched skin operation. After Ralph Saccomandi went to see Dr. Joseph Ardito to cure his snoring problems, the physician recommended that Saccomandi undergo laser surgery to cure rosacea, chronic inflammation of the skin of the face.

During the operation, however, the laser machine stopped working and Ardito performed another procedure, dermabrasion, on the plaintiff without his consent. Plaintiff attorneys successfully argued that this decision ultimately led to deep scarring of the upper nose. According to the plaintiff, surgery may not have been required in the first place.