Dan Mills and Courtney Lindbert successfully defended an optometrist and her clinic on Wednesday, July 18th at the Daley Center in room 2404. After a two-week trial, the jury returned a not guilty verdict for all Defendants.
The Plaintiff had a long history of Graves’ disease. The Plaintiff presented to an ophthalmologist on January 17, 2014 complaining of worsening vision. Thirteen days later, on January 30, 2014, the Plaintiff returned to the clinic to see the Defendant optometrist. The Plaintiff complained of worsening vision in one eye. The Defendant optometrist testified that the patient’s eyes were examined without dilation. The optometrist attributed the worsening vision to symptoms associated with Thyroid Eye Disease and dry eye, which are not ocular emergencies. The Plaintiff had no APD, indicating that there was no compression of the optic nerve.
Days later the Plaintiff was diagnosed with a compressive optic neuropathy and underwent emergency bilateral orbital decompression surgery in order to relieve pressure from the optic nerve. This rare and serious condition led the Plaintiff to lose 80% vision in one eye.
The Plaintiff alleged that the sudden drop in vision at the end of January 2014 was the result of an optic nerve problem, which required an urgent referral to an ophthalmologist. The Plaintiff also alleged the Defendant optometrist did not perform the proper tests to examine the optic nerve, namely dilation.
The CMV trial team was able to present key evidence that the Plaintiff did not have a compressive optic neuropathy as of January 30, 2014. Instead, the likely explanation for the compressive optic neuropathy was an acute event caused by the Plaintiff’s smoking that took place sometime after the January 30th visit.
The jury returned a favorable verdict after deliberating just 46 minutes.