Confidential Six Figure Settlement for Negligent Management of Post Cataract Infection

An elderly 70 + otherwise healthy and active gentleman underwent cataract surgery on his left eye. Following his surgery his Doctor failed to properly follow up with him or examine his eye despite numerous phone calls to the Doctor’s office with complaints of pain and inability to see.

Evidence revealed that the Dr. and his office failed to timely respond to the signs and symptoms of an ensuing endopthalmitis (eye infection). This led to need for removal (surgical enucleation) of the patient’s left eye due to a severe infection, leaving him blind on the left and requiring that an artificial non-functioning eye be surgically implanted to replace the left eye.

Experts determined that there was a complete systems failure from Day 1, starting with the Doctor’s failure to properly follow up with or examine the patient post- operatively, together with failure(s) to properly respond to the signs and symptoms of an ensuing endopthalmitis, apparent from the first post-op visit forward, and failure(s) to properly document and return client’s phone calls for help, all leading to the need for removal of the patient’s left eye which could have been avoided with careful monitoring and adherence to the requisite standards of care for Ophthalmological physicians.

We hope that the Dr. and his group learn from this case and implement changes to ensure that post- operative patients’ symptoms are carefully monitored so as to protect these patients from the complications of post –operative infection and loss of their eye and other adverse effects.