A 62-year-old woman in Carinthia, southern Austrian province was awarded $11,000 in court on Wednesday after claiming she was awake during her major abdominal surgery but was too weak and in too much pain to tell her doctors. In a report, the retiree requested more than $57,000 damage for her mental and physical sufferings during her operation in October 2002.

A company has launched a excused absence service for U. S. employees and students. The Excused Absence Network services all your excuse letter needs for just $25 per excuse note, which appears to come from professional doctor or hospital. They also offer fake jury summons and an authentic-looking funeral service program with poems and pallbearers.

Doctors in India have removed a 3-inch toothbrush lodged inside the nose of a 31-year old woman, a local paper reported. The report said that the housewife went to a hospital in Mumbai two months ago suffering from severe pain.

Doctors in Australia revealed Wednesday they saved an Italian tourist's life by drip-feeding him steady doses of vodka over three days. The patient was given three standard drinks an hour over the period while he was in intensive care unit. The 24-year old unidentified man was brought to Mackay Base Hospital in north Queensland two months ago after a failed suicide attempt. He had swallowed huge quantities of ethylene glycol, a poison commonly found in anti-freeze.

A veterinary doctor has extracted a 7-inch toy rubber lizard from a 12-inch bearded dragon named Mushu after its owner thought the dragon might be having a baby. When seven-year-old Finley Collins noticed an unusual protrusion near the lizard's tail she became worried of her pet and rushed her to the animal hospital.