LASIK Eye Surgery Malpractice Lawsuit

Cho v. Anonymous Doctor

This is a LASIK eye surgery malpractice lawsuit filed in Montgomery County against a Bethesda ophthalmologist. It was filed on February 1, 2017, and is the 56^th medical malpractice case filed in Maryland in 2017.

Summary of Plaintiff's Allegations

Defendant doctor, in Montgomery County, performs LASIK eye surgery on plaintiff. However this procedure is unsuccessful, and plaintiff begins to experience pain, discomfort, and diminishing vision after the surgery. During follow-up examinations, defendant doctor fails to tell the woman that there are no complications.

Plaintiff claims that she was never a candidate for the procedure, and that defendant doctor should have disqualified plaintiff as a surgical candidate. As a result, plaintiff alleges she is left with chronic eye pain, bilateral eye discomfort, and vision loss. She claims that if the risks and consequences of her undergoing LASIK had been explained to her, she or any reasonable person would not have consented to the procedure.

Additional Comments

• LASIK surgery lawsuits are approximately 30% of all ophthalmology malpractice claims. Many of the lawsuits involve clams like this one that allege the plaintiff should never have had the surgery and was not adequately explained the risks. In what may be a related story, LASIK is extremely lucrative for ophthalmologists.
• Plaintiff's malpractice lawyers do not fully explain in the lawsuit why this woman should not have had this procedure. One of the big disqualifications that some ophthalmologist ignore is a thin cornea. Less than 1% of the population has a cornea that is too thin for LASIK which is probably why doctors often fail to vary the thickness of the cornea. The greater the correction, the greater the risks associated with a thin cornea.
• There are also cases where the doctor allegedly should not have proceeded with the procedure because the patient had signs of keratoconus (a degenerative eye disease), large pupils, or blepharitis (inflation of eyelids)
• A few states insanely have laws to allow optometrists to perform laser eye and cosmetic surgery. This is completely crazy but shows the power of the big chain optometry companies and their lobbyists.

Jurisdiction

• Montgomery County

Defendants

• A Bethesda ophthalmologist

Negligence

• Negligently electing to perform LASIK on plaintiff
• Negligently performing LASIK
• Negligently failing to follow-up and correct the post-procedure pain, discomfort, and vision loss

Specific Counts Pled

• Medical Negligence
• Informed Consent

Plaintiff's Experts and Areas of Specialty

• Experts were not named in the Complaint.

Getting a Lawyer for Your Malpractice Claim

If you suffered an injury during a LASIK procedure due to the negligence of a doctor, our firm can help you get the compensation you deserve. Call Miller & Zois today and speak to a medical malpractice attorney at (800) 553-8082 or get an online case evaluation.

More Malpractice Claim Information

• Information about LASIK procedures along with some sample verdicts and settlements
• Take a look at how much your claim could be worth
• A case filed in PG County in 2017 due to vision loss
• An eye surgery malpractice case filed in 2017 against Johns Hopkins
• Cataract surgery lawsuit from 2017 in Prince George's County

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