About 2 months ago, one of my 2 year old twins reached up when I was putting him in bed and scratched my cornea. I rinsed it with saline, went to bed that night, and in the morning my wife convinced me to go to an Urgent Care place (it was Sunday) to get it looked at.

The Physician's assistant (I think that's what they call them, not a doc, but he was the one in charge) told me he was going to put some dye in my eye to take a look. Before he dripped it in, he told me it might sting a little.
When he did, it burned like fire, and I said "you aren't kidding." It hurt like hell. He looked at me funny because I wasn't able to easily keep my eye open anymore. He waited a bit, looked at it some more, then went over to the counter then left the room.

About 5-10 minutes later, he came in and told me what he had put in my eye wasn't the dye, and dropped an eye anesthetic in which made it feel better instantly. (temporarily, anyhow) He said his assistant had set the wrong thing out & he would take care of it later.
I asked if it was going to do any permanent damage & he said no. He had his ass. rinse it with saline, looked at it, gave me some antibiotic ointment & told me to go to an Opthamologist later & sent me off with a prescription for painkillers.

It really started hurting later when the anesthetic drops wore off, like so bad I was walking in circles even with the painkillers. He called several times to check on me in the next few hours, and when I told him the painkillers weren't working, he told me to go to the ER & called in telling them I was coming. I asked him what exactly he put in my eye. It was something called Hemoccult. (For checking for blood in stool.) The ER did basically the same thing he did, but sent me home with a little of the anesthetic drops & told me to go to an Opthamologist in 3 days.

My friend's wife works for an Opthamologist, so I sent her a message & she told me not to use the drops (they'll eat your cornea) & go to an Opthamologist ASAP in the morning. I went in, and he noticed that the abrasion was kind of a flap, put it back & a shield lens on the eye, gave me some better antibiotic drops & told me to come back in a few days. I got the lens off, he said it was healed & my vision should be normal in awhile, but blurry for a bit.

Well, it's still blurry. If I close my left eye, I can't read this post. I had exceptional vision before this, much better than 20/20.It's also my dominant eye.  I have an appointment with him again tomorrow to look at my eye & tell me what's up. Can this be corrected, and if not, should I get a lawyer?

If I do need a lawyer, what should I expect? I am not litigious, and the Urgent Care CEO doc was emailing me for awhile (worried I was going to sue) and I told him as long as my vision goes back to normal, I'm OK & very glad the Phys. Ass or whoever he was was honest about the whole thing because I believe most people would have just covered it all up rather than tell me what they did.

TL;DR version. Got cornea scratched, went to Urgent Care & they put Hemoccult (For finding blood in shit) in my eye instead of dye & (Saul Rosenberg voice) I still can't see so good Goddamnit.

They have malpractice insurance for a reason.  If their negligence harmed you, lawyer up.

That's a hard one. But what idiot wouldn't look at the bottle before putting it in your eye. But is it malpractice? I don't think so. He still followed the standard of care, gave you eye antibiotics and arranged for opthalmology follow up. Eye injuries hurt. The treatment for a corneal abrasion is antibiotic drops and oral pain killers (never send a pt home with painkiller eye drops for a number of reasons) and opthalmology referral.

Goddamn. Wow.

Get millions and spend it all on mailing the fuck a label maker every day for the rest of his life

So I can harm you as long as I try to fix you up after (and at your cost)?

Sue their ass?

Oh hell yes I would.

Best of luck to you.  Very sorry to hear it.

So if my eye is fuxxed permanently from the Hemoccult, can it be fixed? And you don't think I have a case if it can't be?

Hemoccult developer is alcohol and peroxide.

































































 

...so did they ever find blood in your stool?

Do you know how Johnny Lee got heme positive stool in his eye?


































 

Or maybe more appropriate...

I think it became a malpractice case the moment Hemoccult touched his eye. It sounds like the proper drops shouldn't have been painful, these were, thus a battery occurred = malpractice.

If the pain was expected or possible, then no battery or malpractice there. At this point I agree with you.

I just want to be able to see. I don't want to sue anybody.
It has happened before, twice at least. Apparently the bottles look similar. Article in a med journal about it. http://archopht.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=637377#References

PERFECT

Sue the bottle maker!

This goes in your butt, and this one goes in your eye..wait, no this one goes in your eye

For MP, have to do the wrong thing AND have a bad outcome.

. wrong thread.

It really wasn't that bad until he put those in. I could see & keep my eye open fine. Afterwards it really, really hurt. For a couple of weeks. i'd had one before when I was a kid as well, and it was nothing like the pain of Hemoccult in the eye.
So are you a doc, and if so, can damage from a chemical be fixed?

Maybe, maybe not.  If there was indeed a flap of tissue, alcohol and peroxide can kill it and lead to scar tissue formation.  Only time will tell.  

1) Immediately stop all communication with the PA, ER, hospital, etc.

2) Get a free consultation from the best malpractice attorney you can find that works on contingency.

3) Keep following with the ophthalmologist.

Always always always check the medication label carefully to make sure it's the right medication, strength, expiration date, etc.  it was a completely avoidable mistake.  Good luck.


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Thanks.
Shit, I hope this doesn't turn into an "I can't see so good, now I go through years of bullshit legal stuff for money that won't fix my eye anyhow" sort of thing.

So you gave someone the stink eye

The guy in this photo is squinting because a rhododendron ripped a flapper on his right cornea on the first pitch of this climb.

The guy who took the photo is also an EMT, and he said, "I've got good news and bad news.  The good news is that the cornea is one of the fastest healing parts of the human body, and this will heal in 24-48 hours.  The bad news is that this may be the most painful injury you will ever have in your life."

Pain subsided in a little over 48 hours, and vision returned to normal in a couple of weeks.



If they put the wrong stuff in your eye when you had a cornea abrasion, holy cow, I'm not sure I can imagine that pain.

Regarding the anesthetic drops:  when treating this injury, the ER doc poured the anesthetic drops down the drain [the drops were used during the initial exam], telling this guy, "I'm doing this for your own good, because you are more likely to do more damage to your eye if you can't properly feel the pain."

Many doctors dont know their shit.  Many lawyers dont know their shit.  What do you expect from professional classes that refer to their careers as "PRACTICE?"

Being of the latter class, however, I recommend that you lawyer up and sue.  If there is a whiff of malpractice, doctors will settle.

Yeah, it really hurt, don't get me wrong. I do have a high tolerance for pain though. I'm kind of a walking scar. The poop drops "kicked it up a notch" to put it very mildly. I was cursing my mother for bringing me into this Earth. (And my wife for talking me into going to the stupid Urgent Care place.)  
I know most pain will eventually go away, so I try to just tough it out. It's the vision that I care about though.

At the very LEAST for damages in the amount of any medical care that was necessary as a result of the fuck up and any increase in insurance rates (if any).  There's a reason the ability to sue due to negligence exists.

This guy gets it.

Why would it be battery if he consented to the contact made by the PA?  Isn't one of the necessarily present elements of battery contact that is not consensual?  By going and seeking treatment, and that treatment being eye drops, wouldn't he being consenting to the PA putting drops in his eyes?

Ummm. yeah. Let's not overthink this.  It's medical malpractice, not battery.

 


























 

First thing to do is to get your eye fixed with a different doctor.  Check back if you have any kind of permanent damage.  It's clearly malpractice, but the question will be damages.  If it is just temporary, then you are only out the treatment needed to get fixed, plus a little for pain and suffering.  If it is permanent damage then it is much more serious.  Impairment and disfigurement are separate categories of damages and they can be extensive given the right circumstances.

The Opthamologist I'm going to tomorrow afternoon & went to after the UC & ER is a prominent & well respected cornea specialist. I hope he has better news than I think he will.

I would lawyer up - you should get something for the inconvenience plus the pain & suffering.

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why our healthcare costs are ao our of control. Idiot lawyers wanting to sue everyone. I truly wish these people got real jobs instead of sucking the life out of others. It's basically an entire career field that is universally disrespected and generally thought of as scum.

So, did you at least fire your assistant afterwards?

If this happened to me, I'd wait a while before bothering to talk to a lawyer. If all the symptoms resolve, then this was just a temporary inconvenience. While it is clearly a case of malpractice, no decent attorney would waste his/her time chasing a small settlement. The overhead costs of filing, researching, and processing a lawsuit are high enough that it's not financially worthwhile for the dollar amounts attached to 3 or 4 days of pain/suffering. At best, a lawyer might be willing to send a demand letter offering not to file lawsuit if the PA pays a reasonable amount of money. Hopefully, your eye will recover 100% and this will all become a distant memory.

Yep get a lawyer

If any body can fix your eye this fellow can.  He is amazing

http://drmingwang.com/index.html

Absolutely this, especially #3.  If it heals without issue, great.  If not, you may or may not have a case.  Follow the ophthalmologist's advice/instructions to the letter, without fail, until this is resolved one way or the other.

 

As a "Noctor", I'm sure that your treatment, as described, was substandard, and you have a decent malpractice complaint...

There is a reason EVERYONE has insurance for such things.

You will be paid.

Good luck on your recovery.

p

He screwed up.

You should be made whole. That's what malpractice insurance is for.