Medical Malpractice Causing Blindness: Patient Awarded €510,000 Compensation

A beautiful girl from Central South Italy, in 2000 she was just twenty-four years old.

She was therefore in her prime, full of friends and hopes, and she spent her days in joy.

Her commitments were to make plans for the evening, plan holidays and go outings with friends. Even the most serious aspects of life such as building a family and finding a satisfying job, to which a 20-year-old begins to look, had lived with optimism. Truth to be told, she is diabetic, but this has never prevented her from living a normal life, keeping the disease completely under control.

Due to some eye disorders that began in June 2000, this girl turns to a hospital, and begins a series of diagnostic tests. Instead of finding a solution to the problem, the girl will unfortunately face a worsening of the situation and will find herself with the total loss of vision in the left eye and very serious functional damage to the right eye.

Suddenly, the young girl with a perfect sight, is now in a condition of almost complete blindness, resulting in upheaval of her own existence and inevitable failure of all her prospects of life.

How did the poor girl get this worseinstead of healing?

When she experiences the first eye disorder, she goes to the ER and is visited by the ophthalmologist on duty. Diagnosis is serious, endovitrealhemorrhage. However, the doctor seems confident: just a little rest and wait for the bleeding to reabsorb itself, then it will come back to see better than before.

The summer is almost over, and the girl still doesn't see well at all. A new visit to the same ophthalmologist reveals that a delicate eye surgery is necessary, to be performed after a couple of months.

In December he goes under surgery. Unfortunately, it will be revealed as the first but not the only. Most unfortunate, it will not give the desired result because at the end of all operations, our girl finds herself with the total loss of functionality of the left eye, the atrophied eyeball and without any hope of recovery.

In the meantime, she also treats her right eye with lasers and other treatments, but she does not see any improvement and in short undergoes the progressive reduction of the visual function of the right eye as well.

You can imagine what a drama the poor girl lives. A situation of almost blindness (it has only very little visus in the right eye) that can not be corrected with lenses or with any other treatment.

wrongful loss of eyesight compensation

The first person to experience the suffering is her, the young woman. Even the family members, however, live a terrible ordeal witnessing helplessly the inexorable decay of the visual capacity of the daughter, who suddenly becomes blind at such a young age.

A great disturbance runs through the whole family knowing that the outcome could be averted, a disturbance that occurs daily because the limitations that result in blindness are repeated on a daily basis.

Let's also add that her parents could no longer have children after the girl, and therefore for the mother and father, the suffering is accentuated by the loss of hope of having someone to take care of them in theirultimate season of life. It is also frustrating for the girl, whose efforts to live a happy life despite her diabetic pathology have been vanished.

Sadly, the father passes away prematurely, and his decease is made more bitter by the acknowledge of having left a daughter with no prospect of inclusion in the world of work. It is not easy to find a job for those in excellent physical condition, let alone for a blind person, who would still be forced to give up a job consistent with her inclinations.

Equally frustrating in addition to the emotional factor is the upheaval of lifestyle habits and relationships with people outside the household. The girl has completely lost all autonomy. It is intended to seek help from others for all the activities of daily life. She used to drive the car, she was independent, she played sports. Now she has to give up sports, fun opportunities, but also just to watch TV shows, read a book, go to the movies. She will never drive again.

Moreover, her way of moving in public places is compromised, and she also lost the ability to relate to the other sex. No longer being able to look in the mirror, make-up and comb, not even to choose clothes from the closet, she doesn't feel confident enough to be wooed by a boy.

You might think that blindness hasn't altered her physical appearance, and that with a little exercise she'll be able to handle the limitations better, but unfortunately she's not, and she's aware of that. In fact, in addition to the dramatic situation of blindness, our girl also suffered a physical disfigurement because the atrophy of the left eyeball is clearly evident.

Eye surgery malpractice lawsuit

Fortunately, if there is one thing that characterizes young people it is confidence in the future, no matter how complicated the present is.

When the desire to live is stronger than despair, the possibility of entering life from another perspective seems less dramatic. There are many associations of psychological and practical support for people affected by blindness, introducingthem to different dimensions and gestures. A valuable help, which always goes sentimental in its effectiveness, comes from the guide dog: eventually the girl acquires security and a new friend.

Anger over an irreversible situation, however, remains and it is not easy to abandon the idea that all the suffering is lying upon a medical error. Too light in diagnosis? Wrong cures?

Any hypothesis is at stakeshouldn’t the advice of a malpractice lawyer be heard. But not a lawyer seems to show enough bravery to fight against the main Hospital in the region: an overly powerful subject that discourages the battle.

This is the very time the family encounters the right person: they casually meet a friend who recommends the name of a lawyer living outside the region in Rome, out of the local Court jurisdiction and the Hospital suggestion. He is well known for he always seems to find his way to success against Hospitals for medical malpractice disputes and the poor girl’s case doesn’t even look a big deal.

An injection of confidence that really hits the spot.

patient rights medical negligence

Of course it is not easy, the road is uphill. Of course, the hospital that treated her doesn't agree to go for incompetent. The treatment was accurate, the doctor argues before the judges, and the girl's eyesight was already at risk due to diabetes.

The Courtorders the young woman to meet several doctors. New painful clinicsfor her physique and memory. All of this is necessary, however. Her lawyer encourages her: today's difficulties will be the tranquility of tomorrow.

With the material at its disposal the Court is finally able to put an end to this sad story, acknowledging the efforts of the lawyer who fought not to pass on diabetes as the real culprit of the damage to the eyesight.

The Hospital is guilty for medical malpractice and the patient must be awarded for compensatory damages for the actual injury and harm she has suffered.

The Court underlines: the Hospital delayed an operation that could help preserve the sight in the left eye; it has not carried out any major preliminary clinical investigations; it did not properly inform the patient before surgery.

The Court therefore awarded the young woman a substantial amount in compensatory damages, as much as EUR 510,000.00, most of which for non-economic damages.

A successgained thanks to the professional commitment of the lawyer, which infused confidence allowing her to resume her academic studies. Even, ironically, she managed to graduate in medicine and specialized in medical genetics.

Terrible situations arise from ophthalmology malpractice

Malpractice unfortunately occurs with a certain frequency. Hospitals absorb many requests for assistance, doctors sometimes struggle to find the right cure in time and an inaccurate medical diagnosis can turn into a real tragedy.

Sometimes it is just a matter ofnegligence: in Prato, a central Italy town, a man has irretrievably lost his sight from both eyes after he was put in the wrong position while undergoing back surgery in the operating room.