Brien Roche has tried hundreds of jury cases to conclusion. He has had multiple million-dollar verdicts and settlements. He has authored three well-recognized legal texts, two of which deal exclusively with Virginia law. One of those legal texts is the Virginia Torts Case Finder. That book is an 800-plus page compendium of Virginia tort law. Objections is a book outlining how objections may be made at trial and in the course of a legal proceeding. It is published by the Virginia Law Foundation, which is the continuing legal education arm of the Virginia State Bar. Law 101 is a layperson’s guide to the law. It is published by Source Books. It has sold over 30,000 copies. Do not hesitate to contact an accomplished personal injury attorney at Brien Roche Law Firm today.
Medical Malpractice Comes in Many Forms
There are a number of different medical specialties. There are doctors that specialize in orthopedics, cardiology, ophthalmology, neurology, and surgical specialties.
One of those specialties is ophthalmology.
Within the world of ophthalmology, there are essentially two different types of ophthalmologists. There are what are called “anterior segment surgeons”. They operate on the front of the eye. That is, everything from the lens forward. Then there are “posterior segment ophthalmologists”. They are also called “retina specialists”. They operate on everything behind the lens.
The Eye is a Complicated Structure
Whether your case involves the human eye or some other body part, it is necessary to understand the biology and physiology of that structure. The eye itself is a one-inch ball. It is filled mostly with fluid. Just like the human body, it is 60% fluid. The outermost layer of the eye is called “the cornea”. The cornea refracts light. Light passes through the cornea into the interior chamber, which is filled with fluid. The iris is the component of the eye that gives the eye color. It controls the opening and closing of the pupil.
The light passes through the pupil to the lens. The lens then further refracts or bends the light in certain ways so that you can have both focused vision and peripheral vision. The light then passes through the back of the eye to the retina, which is similar to the film that used to be in cameras. That film converts the light from an analog signal to a digital signal, which is then transmitted through the optic nerve to the brain. The brain then creates a picture essentially using pixels. That picture is what the brain creates, which is what we see. We think that we see with our eyes. We really see with our brain. Just like we really hear with our brain. Sound is transmitted by the human ear, but the sound is then transformed into a digital signal that the brain translates into different forms of communication.
What Is Cataract Surgery Malpractice?
One of the more common forms of ophthalmological surgery is cataract removal. A cataract is a film that forms on the lens. The lens is avascular. That means that it has no blood supply. It can be removed without bleeding because there is no blood. The way that cataracts are treated is through the removal of that lens and the replacement of the lens with an artificial lens. The lens exists within a capsule.
As part of the surgery, the front of the capsule has to be broken in order to allow an instrument to get inside the capsule to chop up the lens into small pieces. It is then sucked out of the capsule and removed from the human eye. Sometimes in the course of doing that, there develops a tear in the back of the eye. A tear in the back of the eye can be dangerous. It is dangerous because it potentially allows that chopped-up lens material to get into the back of the eye. It is not supposed to be there. It also allows the sticky, stringy vitreous fluid that is in the back of the eye to come into the front of the eye. That vitreous fluid is attached to the retina. If it pulls on the retina too much, it can pull the retina off the back wall, causing a retinal detachment, which leads to blindness.
That tear in the back of the capsule is dangerous for the reasons mentioned above. It typically needs to be dealt with promptly to make sure that none of the lens material got into the back of the eye. It further needs to be dealt with promptly to make sure that whatever vitreous got into the front of the eye is not pulled out but rather is cut up and then removed. It can’t be pulled out because it may pull the retina off the back wall.
Cataract Surgery Malpractice-Failing to Get a Clear View
The role of the ophthalmologist when confronted with a tear in the back of the capsule during cataract surgery is to get a clear view of the back of the eye. Sometimes the surgeon cannot do that because the anterior chamber is cloudy. The cornea may likewise be cloudy. If the artificial lens was inserted, it may potentially be malpositioned because of the tear. In addition, the vitreous fluid in the back of the eye may be cloudy.
All of that restricts the doctor’s ability to view the retina. It also restricts the doctor’s view or ability to see any lens material that got into the back of the eye. If only little tiny pieces of lens material got into the back of the eye, that may not be a problem. But if larger pieces got into the back of the eye, that is a problem. That may increase pressure in the eye. Pressure in the eye means that pressure is being exerted on the optic nerve. The optic nerve doesn’t like that. The optic nerve is what conveys the electrical signal from the eye to the brain that creates the picture.
As such, it’s incumbent upon the cataract surgeon to get a clear view of the back of the eye to know if lens material got back there. The surgeon would clearly know whether or not any vitreous material from the back of the eye got into the front of the eye. If so, the surgeon would have removed that.
All of those complications need to be dealt with promptly and frequently require a prompt referral to a retina specialist.