Ophthalmologist Malpractice: When Eye Doctors Make Mistakes

Astigmatism, farsightedness, nearsightedness, and infant eye disease, are just a few of the things that ophthalmologists and other eye care professionals treat in patients.  Ophthalmologists are medical doctors, licensed to practice medicine.  They also perform surgery.

In any one day, ophthalmologists can go from performing surgery on a patient’s eye and then move on to performing eye exams and prescribing eye glasses to another patient; hundreds of patients can be seen at a single office in just one week.  Ophthalmologists in the Kingston region of New York commonly perform the following services:

• Eye exams.
• Diagnose and treat glaucoma.
• Treat iritis.
• Treat eye damage, such as cuts and burns on the eye.
• Perform surgery for a variety of reasons, like glaucoma and cataracts.
• Treat patients with crossed eyes.
• Perform plastic surgery.
• Treat eye problems related to diabetes and other diseases.
• Laser eye surgery.

Here are some examples of mistakes that ophthalmologists make:

• Failing to receive a complete and proper patient history.
• Failing to administer a complete eye exam.
• Failing to diagnose a patient’s disease.
• Misdiagnosis.
• Mistakes during surgery.
• Subpar post surgical care.
• Failures to use clean and sterile tools.
• Failing to receive adequate informed consent from the patient.
• Prescribe the wrong medication and or the wrong dosage.

The experienced Kingston medical malpractice attorney knows that ophthalmologists are like any other medical doctor; they go to medical school after undergraduate study, then complete a yearlong internship, and finally complete a hospital based residency for several years.  Also just like other doctors, ophthalmologists can be sued for medical malpractice if they make a negligent error.

Ophthalmologists are expected to perform their services in a certain way; follow the steps required by good patient care.  But they do not always do so.  They can rush their treatment; lose attention; fail to stay abreast of developments in the field; etc.  The bottom line is that they can be held negligent if they violated their duty to a patient by doing something that another ophthalmologist in the area would not have ever done.  When these errors inevitably cause the patient to suffer an injury, the doctor may have to pay.

The premise is simple.  The ophthalmologist makes a mistake during the course of treating a patient and the patient is injured.  The patient has to suffer more pain, undergo more treatment, and face possible irreversible damage as a result of the doctor’s mistake.  Money is lost to medical bills and from missing work.  Lifestyles are forever changed.  As a result, the ophthalmologist should naturally be expected to compensate the patient for these losses.

But what do you think?  I would love to hear from you!  Leave a comment or I also welcome your phone call on my toll-free cell at 1-866-889-6882 or you can drop me an e-mail at jfisher@fishermalpracticelaw.com.  You are always welcome to request my FREE book, The Seven Deadly Mistakes of Malpractice Victims, at the home page of my website at www.protectingpatientrights.com.