AboutEdward A. Smith Expertise California Personal Injury lawyer with 18 years of experience handling automobile accidents, dogbites, slip and fall cases as well as medical malpractice cases will answer your questions regarding these areas. Valuestar Certified. Author of "Top 20 PI sites on the Internet" for Law Office Computing Magazine
Question Last year, a Doctor performed surgery on me as she stated my retina was detaching and she wanted to put a scleral band around my eye. After the surgery, I had weekly follow up checkups (4 months) and I was in continual excruciating pain. I found another team of doctors and on the first visit they stated he band had broken and it was embedded in my eyelid and I had to have an emergency surgery. The doctor that performed the 1st surgery said I would eventually get my eyesight back, however, the team of doctors said she was negligent after reviewing my records and said it was a senseless blindness as glaucoma had set in and I will never get it back. They gave me a letter stating the facts which I took to an attorney. The attorney was amazed as he said most doctors will not go against another one especially in the same small city I live in. My question is how does one figure what the worth of my loss of eyesight is worth? I am 50 years old. I was out a year from work which I make $55,000 a year, if that even matters. It would be nice to have an idea because my attorney said he talked to the adjuster and would be getting back with me in 7-10 days. He stated if they are not willing to settle out of court, this could go to a jury trial but that could take 5 years. Obviously, this has changed my life and my looks as I never wore glasses and the left eye is not the same looking as my right one. Driving and doing tasks have been extremely difficult as I am still getting use to the loss but I am now out of pain since the team removed the band partially from around my eye. I would appreciate any assistance you could give me. Thank you. Mary
Answer Very tough to answer in the abstract. First, I'd need to calculate your work life expectancy and see if this injury prevented you from working for a certain number of years in the future. What kind of job do you have and is your eyesight essential to your job?
Then, we'd need to calculate the cost or reasonably expected medical care in the future. That would require a Life Care Plannng Expert.
Finally, we'd need to be sure that it really was a clear instance of medical negligence.
These cases require very experienced attorney's if they are to be handled correctly.
I don't understand at all why your attorney is talking with the adjustor now..it sounds like you really don't know the full extent of the injury and it hasn't been worked up by an economist, life care planner or vocational rehabilitation expert.
If that's true, how could anyone make a demand at this stage???
What city and state do you live in? Do you have a trial attorney who has a successful effort of taking these cases to trial and winning?
