Patient v. Doctor
Superior Court of California, County of San Diego
A jury in San Diego returned a verdict of $772,000 against a LASIK surgeon in San Diego, California, for LASIK surgery negligence. On October 13, 2015, the plaintiff had LASIK surgery in San Diego, where the treatment of her right eye was interrupted. Instead of resuming the LASIK treatment where it had left off, the LASIK surgeon, or his staff, caused the treatment to be restarted from the beginning. As a consequence, the patient was overcorrected, and is left permanently far-sighted, with a permanent partial visual disability due to problems with the quality of her vision, including anisometropia ,which refers to an imbalance between her two eyes which impairs her depth perception, and a host of light phenomenon including photosensitivity, glair, halos, ghosting, diminished night vision, and loss of contrast sensitivity.
According to the LASIK surgeon’s schedule for the day, the patient was one of 21 patients for that day, 20 of whom were surgical patients, scheduled in 15 minute blocks, with six of the patients double-booked in the same time slots. The surgeon argued that the EX500 Wavelight Laser, manufactured by Alcon Laboratories, Inc., had supposedly malfunctioned, and had confusing messages about how to resume an aborted treatment. The jury rejected this defense.
The Plaintiff, who works in the health care field, at a mental health facility, claimed damages for economic loss. The jury’s award was only for her pain and suffering, including loss of life’s enjoyment. Under California Law, the $772,000 verdict is reduced by statute to $250,000.
Plaintiff was represented by Todd J. Krouner from the Law Office of Todd J. Krouner, P.C., in Chappaqua, New York, and Steven C. Vosseller of the Vosseller Law in San Diego, California.
The LASIK surgeon and his practice were represented by Gabriel Benrubi of Davis, Grass, Goldstein & Finlay, in San Diego, California.
Plaintiff’s claim against the laser center settled prior to trial for a confidential amount.
The trial lasted nine days in the Superior Court of California in San Diego.
The Honorable Federic L. Link presided.