Loss of vision, what to do in case of negligence?

Although nowadays refractive surgery is becoming safer, it is still true that they continue to be committed negligence that cause visual complications to those who suffer them, and that unfortunately in certain cases can generate serious consequences, such as loss of vision, partial or complete.

Like any other negligence that we may suffer, all errors must be corrected and medical negligence is no exception. Faced with medical malpractice, two repairs are necessary, the first is to correct the medical error caused by malpractice, and the second is to financially compensate the moral and financial damages that this error may have caused the patient.

In the case of an error in a refractive surgery, the first stage will be see if surgically it is possible to correct the damage caused, or if it is not possible, identify which visual alternative (glasses, contact lenses, lubricating drops, …) would be the most appropriate to mitigate, when possible, the consequences of ophthalmological negligence.

The second stage is claim compensation. We all have the right to quality treatment and when it is not the case we must report it demanding compensation commensurate with the prejudice received. If that were your case, my recommendation is that you contact a lawyer specialized in medical malpractice, who will explain the steps to follow and help you obtain the financial compensation that you deserve.

That said, let’s see what the medical negligence and the most common sequelae after an eye surgery operation.

Errors after laser operation. In this case, the most common complications suffered by those who have had their eyes operated with this refractive surgery technique are the following:

• Incomplete fixes (undercorrection, overcorrection, residual astigmatism) or regression of the correction after a certain time.
  • Consequence: Blurry vision
  • Solution: Glasses or contact lenses, eye drops, repeat laser treatment

• Decentre ablations, dilated pupil, or ocular opacity.
  • Consequence: Visual aberrations
  • Solution: Eye drops, repeat laser treatment

• Irregular layer (folds, wrinkles, stretch marks)
  • Consequence: Visual aberrations
  • Solution: Surgical correction, second laser procedure

• Dry Eye
  • Consequence: Dry, itchy or scratched eyes, often with redness and a sensation of a foreign object in the eye and sometimes pain.
  • Solution: Prescription drugs for dry eye syndrome, artificial tears, lacrimal closure (blockage of the tear ducts to keep the tear film in the eye)

• Epithelial growth
  • Consequence: Visual aberrations
  • Solution: Surgical removal of the epithelium

• Infection ocular
  • Consequence: Redness, discharge from the eyes, sometimes pain
  • Solution: Eye drops, oral medications

The visual aberrations which I cite as consequences of those laser surgery mistakes include symptoms such as glare, double vision, ghosting, halos, flare, loss of contrast sensitivity, and problems with low light or night vision.

The second refractive surgery technique that I will discuss in this post is the cataract operation. Among the possible complications of this eye surgery we find:

When complications of cataract surgery occur, most are mild and can be successfully treated medically. In addition and as with laser techniques, the solution could also be a new surgery to try to correct the initial error.

However, there are people whose vision cannot improve after cataract surgery and in that case the first thing to do is rule out that there is no underlying visual pathology, such as age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy or glaucoma among others.

More information on macular degeneration

If there is no pathology that justifies the loss of vision, in that case I recommend again that talk to a lawyer specialist, to advise you on the options you have to claim a repair for the damage caused.

If you have suffered medical negligence after a visual operation, please do not forget to tell us about your experience in order to help other blog readers who are in your case.