Yesterday New Jersey issued its first permit to a facility that allows the cultivation of medicial marijuana in a town also known as "Park Slope West." The Greenleaf Compassion Center in Montclair will be allow to grow the plant, but not sell it, as an additional permit is necessary pending another state inspection. "The patients we work with and represent are ecstatic," New Jersey's director of the Drug Policy Alliance, Roseanne Scotti says in a release. "They have waited so long for safe and legal access to medical marijuana and this gives them hope that that wait is coming to an end and relief is in sight.” more ›

After scores of malpractice lawsuits over the course of three decades, a Staten Island plastic surgeon finally had his medical license suspended this month and was deemed "an imminent danger to the health of the people of the state." Legal documents show that Dr. Robert Cattani, whom the Post dubs "the Richmond County ripper," leaves behind a horrifying trail of botched medical procedures. And though he may be prevented from perforating a patient's bowels during a liposuction like he did back in 2007, many of his former patients wonder why it took so long for his practice to be shut down. more ›

Yesterday, a panel of doctors who are charged with reviewing preventative medicine ruled that a blood screening for prostate cancer, the second deadliest cancer, is unnecessary. This is mostly because people don't like to be told they have cancer, especially with the treatment and biopsies that occur after a positive result: 5,000 men died after surgery, and up to 70,000 had "serious consequences" after the biopsy, in addition to the 300,000 who experienced impotence or incontinence from 1985 to 2005. The doctor who developed the test has called it a "public health disaster." But Rudy Giuliani tells the Post that the test saved his life: "I believe it's the reason I'm alive. It's really a mistake to move away from this. It's very dangerous." Well, that settles it! more ›

The Connecticut woman whose face was ripped off by a chimpanzee in 2009 received a face transplant in May. Charla Nash's family showed a photograph of the 57-year-old, and Nash herself revealed to the Today Show that she can even smell and taste again. She said, "I’m beginning to feel my jaw and chin. And I can move my mouth and smile. I still feel weak. But little by little I’m getting stronger." more ›

Earlier this week, robbers in Long Island broke into the home of 8-year-old Eric Antos, who suffers from cystic fibrosis. They stole thousands worth of cash, jewlery and possessions, including donations that had been raised for Eric, as well as his $2,000-a-month medicines. They even stole his teddy bear, which was paid for by the Make-A-Wish Foundation. The Daily News reports that members of the West Sayville community have stepped up and made new donations, trying to help the family: "People are being very generous. They're being very nice," said Stacey Antos, Eric's mother. more ›

Police are searching for thieves who broke into a Long Island home and ransacked it of thousands in cash, jewelery and other items. But the perps who manhandled the house of the Antos family were no average burglars. No, these cold-hearted robbers were just assholes. more ›

In NY and elsewhere Christian science leaders say they're encouraging followers to go see a doctor in grave medical emergencies, despite the religion's century-old conviction in the evils of modern medicine. “In the last year, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been called to pray at a patient’s bedside in a hospital,” national spokesman Phillip Davis told the Times, speaking from NY headquarters in midtown. more ›

The Manhattan socialite accused of killing her son in a failed murder-suicide attempt had became increasingly detached as she tried to find a way to treat her 8-year-old boy's autism, friends said. "When she had Jude, she found herself a character in an Aristotelian tragedy, in that the baby was severely autistic," said Dr. Marcus Conant, a longtime friend of Gigi Jordan. "She felt she had to to fix his problem ... She went to clinics all over the country looking for a treatment, grasping at straws." more ›

Remember Kisha Jones — the Brooklyn wife accused of trying to kill her husband's out-of-wedlock baby by tricking the mother into taking an abortion-inducing medicine then attempting to poison the infant with tainted breast milk? Prosecutors now allege that after the baby's birth, she posed as a hospital administrator in an unsuccessful attempt to have the infant taken off its respirator! more ›

Forget faux snakeskin Fendi bag knock-offs — you can allegedly procure your own canned cobra right on Canal Street! Last week a Queens man was busted for attempting to smuggle a suitcase of endangered fish to New York (that could have reportedly sold for up to $8K each in Chinatown), and now the NY Post looks at some of the other crazy critters being sold in the neighborhood. more ›

A Brooklyn wife tried to kill her husband's child with another woman — first by slipping the mistress a medicine to induce abortion, then by attempting to poison the baby with tainted breast milk, according to cops. more ›

Newsweek's cover story this week is about Oprah Winfrey and "Why Health Advice on Oprah Could Make You Sick." Ouch! The first example mentions how actress Suzanne Somers was on the show, explaining her hormone therapy regime ("She smears progesterone on her other arm two weeks a month. And once a day, she uses a syringe to inject estrogen directly into her vagina"), prompting Oprah to say, "Many people write Suzanne off as a quackadoo. But she just might be a pioneer." While Oprah did have critics present, they weren't given the prominence Somers had; Albert Einstein College of Medicine director of endocrinology tells Newsweek that Somers "simply repackag[ed] the old, discredited idea that menopause is some kind of hormone-deficiency disease, and that restoring them will bring back youth." While many of Oprah's medical endorsements are taken to task, Newsweek does give props for Dr. Mehmet Oz, the Columbia Presbyterian cardiac surgeon: "On one show, 'Everybody Poops,' Oz conducted a genuinely fascinating seminar on what comes out the other end. (It should be shaped like an S and 'hit the water like a diver from Acapulco.' Who knew?)" more ›

It may not be sweeps months, but WCBS 2 had a segment about a 12-week tiger cub who got a CT scan at a Long Island animal hospital. It's way easier on the eyes than the "woman who had a coat rack stuck in her face" story. Simba, a Siberian tiger at an Ohio zoo, was going to be put to sleep because she had a very bad sense of balance and could possibly... more ›

Possibly the most haunting thing we've seen is coverage of the Staten Island woman who had a coat hook pierce her face - and how a plastic surgeon who helped save her face. Fifty-three year-old Geri Rivero was at a co-worker's party last month when she slipped in the bathroom. According to the Daily News, she grabbed the metal coatrack, but "somehow, the hook pierced the bone under her right eye, plowing through muscle and... more ›