|
|
 |
Saturday, February 2, 2002
| |
 |
Sandy Keller had simply wanted to correct her nearsightedness and stop
wearing contact lenses when she had laser eye surgery in September
1999. Instead, she ended up suing her surgeon and optometrist,
claiming that a botched surgery left her with damage so severe she may
eventually need corneal transplants.
The case was settled for $260,000 this last fall. "But no amount of
money is going to fix this," says the 42-year-old Torrance woman, who
now uses an arsenal of medications in her eyes just to get through the
day.
Patients unhappy with the results of Lasik surgery are increasingly
suing doctors and clinics for compensation, complaining that the
procedure actually worsened their vision and, in the most extreme
cases, left them legally blind. The settlements are encouraging
attorneys to pursue additional cases, even as they shed light on the
procedure's risks. Five recent lawsuits generated judgments in the
million-dollar range, and at least 200 other cases are in the
pipeline, according to Washington, D.C., attorney Aaron M. Levine,
chairman of the American Trial Lawyers Assn.'s Lasik litigation group.
A Buffalo, N.Y., man, for instance, won a $1.2-million verdict against
the doctor and center where he had Lasik surgery after his eye was
lacerated so badly that he is now virtually blind without corrective
lenses. And a Kentucky jury awarded a 38-year-old woman a record $1.7
million after four laser surgeries left her legally blind in her left
eye.
Lasik, now the most common elective surgery in the United States, is a
$2.4-billion-a-year industry, according to Market Scope, a St.
Louis-based newsletter that tracks the eye surgery business. More than
4.5 million Americans have had their vision corrected with lasers
since 1996.
Several factors have fueled the upswing in the number of lawsuits.
First, there's always a time lag between when a procedure becomes
popular and when problems emerge. Lasik, for example, didn't become
widely available until the late '90s. Lawyers were reluctant to take
the cases because they weren't knowledgeable about the surgery and
because it's difficult to prove damages when there is no objective
test to verify a patient's complaints. "How do you prove your vision's
worse or you're getting spots in your eyes?" says Paul J. Martinek,
editor of Lawyers Weekly USA in Boston.
It also takes time for these claims to wend their way through the
legal system. But the recent judgments have showed that these cases
are winnable, and lawyers have come up to speed on the potential
complications, which has paved the way for more lawsuits. "There's now
a definite momentum," says Levine, who adds that he receives at least
one call a week from an unhappy Lasik patient.
 |
|
AIDS
After 20 Years
AIDS has
taken a devastating human toll in its first two decades. It
has also altered the face of medicine forever.
|
 |
|
Autism
Advances in diagnosis and
treatment give hope to parents of children with the mysterious
disorder.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fitness expert Karen
Voight offers an exercise program for the entire
body.
|
| |
|
| a d v e r t
i s e m e n t |
|
|
| | |
.gif){kind=spacer}
