Lasik Lawsuits

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Lasik Lawsuits Has your Surgeon been sued? Find Lawsuits Against Prominent Surgeons.If you're considering LASIK, it's best to find out whether your surgeon has been sued. Unfortunately, obtaining this information can be difficult. A trip to the county courthouse may be the only way to determine whether there are existing or past suits against your surgeon. Make sure you know where he or she has practiced, since some surgeons do relocate in order to avoid the effects of a bad reputation. You can also check LasikInfoCenter.com, which maintains a list of known lawsuits. The word "known" is key here, since patients whose lives have been destroyed regularly accept a "gag order" as part of their settlement agreement. Patients who may now be unemployable because of their vision thus receive needed compensation, but the public reputation of their surgeon is protected. This makes it much harder to determine whether any individual doctor is lying about complication rates.Malpractice lawsuits related to refractive surgery on the riseWAIKOLOA, Hawaii – With a large increase in the volume of refractive surgical procedures in recent years, the number of malpractice lawsuits related to refractive surgery is also rising, said Neal A. Sher, MD, FACS. “We’re all able to be sued by any patient at any time. The situation is murkier than ever,” Dr. Sher said to attendees here at Hawaii 2005, The Royal Hawaiian Eye Meeting. Reasons for the rise in lawsuits include the large volume of cases, high patient expectations, inadequate training of some surgeons and unprofessional advertising, Dr. Sher said. Other causes can include offhand comments made to patients by other physicians or staff, and the increasing sophistication of plaintiff’s lawyers concerning refractive surgery, he said. Dr. Sher advised surgeons to adhere to guidelines set forth by the Federal Trade Commission, the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery and the American Academy of Ophthalmology regarding appropriate advertising. He shared several other tips: The surgeon should be available for the management of complications, should regularly update informed consent documents, and should discuss issues such as monovision and presbyopia with the patient preoperatively so that he or she understands all the risks and potential complications. Dr. Sher said surgeons should inform patients when the procedure being performed is off-label. He also advised against performing multiple attempts at suction in the same eye. When significant complications develop during surgery on the first eye of a patient, Dr. Sher recommended abandoning the idea of second eye surgery. Richard L. Lindstrom, MD, who moderated the session, added that every refractive surgeon should expect to be sued at least three times during his or her career, based on statistics. Surgeons should not take lawsuits personally, should get the best attorney possible – not just the one recommended by the insurance company – and should not settle the case too easily, Dr. Lindstrom suggested. “It’s a tough world out there, and it’s not getting any better. Most important, be sure to support legislators who favor tort reform,” Dr. Lindstrom said. Read the SourceAn Eye for an Eye: Professor James O'Reilly Speaks Out "My interest in LASIK arose at a Christmas party. I have published 28 textbooks and 135 articles, and the Supreme Court called me the "expert" on FDA approval of medical device products. So when I sat next to an eye surgeon I asked him if he does a lot of LASIKs, and he replied "No, I don't think these are safe but it will be years before we see the effects and know for sure." That was a chilling comment, so I looked back at what FDA had required and was startled that so little experience base is needed before approval. That led me to the American Academy of Ophthalmology statistics person and to the insurance folks, and as I went forward with this little line of curiosity I came to recognize that there will be literally thousands whose injury will have no recourse -- and that they are the future victims of the inactivity today." Read the Report (PDF)Jack M. Dodick, MD: The most urgent issue Opthalmologists face Today is Legal"What are the most urgent issues that ophthalmologists currently face? Unfortunately, they are not medically related but legally and financially driven. Serious problems with regard to malpractice litigation, decreasing reimbursement, and encroachment by optometrists are challenging ophthalmologists. For example, decreasing reimbursements have resulted in many physicians’ opting out of therapeutic procedures such as cataract surgery. They feel that their livelihoods depend upon patient-reimbursed elective procedures such as cosmetic or refractive surgery. With improvements in surgical techniques, patients’ expectations have risen, creating a smaller permissable margin of error for surgeons and increasing malpractice rates. It is sad and telling to see the children of ophthalmologists pursuing careers outside of ophthalmology for these reasons." Read the ReportLawsuits Mount for LASIK :: LA Times 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. Read the ArticleNEED AN ATTORNEY?If you've had complications from LASIK or other refractive surgeries, you may need an attorney. Good luck. Many observers consider the LASIK industry a kind of "closed shop," meaning that many surgeons know each other, particularly within any given city. They see each other at conferences and on the golf course. As a result, patients regularly seek expert witnesses outside with own locale, or even across the country. Recently, it's become more much difficult to find an expert witness who will testify for patients. This is just another informed consent issue that you'll never see in print: The fact that if you have complications, you will discover that justice is a commodity that YOU must pay for. If you're unlucky enough to lose your job because of your vision, you may not have the legal resources necessary to recover a single dime. Here is a list of attorneys who are known to have helped LASIK patients in the past:ATTORNEY LISTThe LASIK Industry Lauches it's Damage Control Campaign. A May 2002 Article in Eyeworld says:"Laser in-situ keratomileusis vision correction surgery malpractice lawsuits are on the rise, due in part to a growing number of web sites that encourage dissatisfied patients to sue surgeons. LASIK malpractice web sites garnering attention include seattleclassaction.com, lasikdisaster.com, and lasikinfocenter.net.""To counter the negative perceptions and innacurate information people have been receiving about LASIK, the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery will be launching a public information campaign in June. “We encourage people to get accurate and balanced information about the procedure,” said John Ciccone, ASCRS director of communications."