Alan | Cataract surgery error

Alan was short sighted and needed glasses for distance vision. Being partially deaf he also relied on lip-reading so his eyesight was extremely precious to him.

Alan made an appointment with an eye laser surgery clinic to assess whether he would be suitable for eye laser surgery. He was found to have cortical lens sclerosis and was informed that he had slight cataracts in both eyes that needed removing.

Through his private health-insurance, Alan arranged for private treatment. He was told he would be suitable for cataract removal and intra-ocular lens implant surgery.

Before the surgery a nurse took biometry reading to in order to calculate the required power of the lens to be inserted, after which the implant surgery was carried out on his right eye.

Days later and Alan was still short-sighted so it was decided to do further biometry readings, on the basis of these readings it was determined that the wrong power lens had been inserted into his eye. Now Alan was left with unbalanced vision – short sighted in his right eye but long sighted in the other. He would now need a “piggy back” lens in his right eye.

Following this “piggy back” operation Alan missed six weeks of work and remained in pain for three months. Also his distance vision after all this was satisfactory although not as good as he had been told it would be following surgery.

Alan approached solicitors who obtained expert evidence that there had been a breach of duty in inserting the wrong lens. Had the correct lens been inserted in the first place Alan would not have suffered periods of pain and poor vision and he wouldn’t have needed a second operation.

The Defendant did not admit liability, they declared that the NHS Trust was liable as it was their nurse that had taken the initial, incorrect biometry readings. Alan’s solicitors counteracted that while the biometry readings had been taken by the NHS Nurse, overall responsibility for the procedure rested with the Defendant.

Alan accepted the £9000 out of court settlement that the Defendant offered.