Resource Library
The Resource Library is a compendium of consent forms, risk management recommendations, sample documents, articles, and other risk management materials to promote ophthalmic patient safety and reduce liability. Contact riskmanagement@omic.com with questions.
Found
21
resources.
Sep 12, 2024
| Case Study
This case illustrates how challenging it can be to correctly diagnose certain types of corneal infections. When a diagnosis cannot be reached and a patient continues to deteriorate, it is prudent to promptly refer the patient on to a specialist for further examination and testing.
Aug 14, 2024
| Case Study
Over the last two years, OMIC has seen an increase in the frequency of cataract surgery claims. In response, Risk Management performed an in-depth analysis of 2016-2020 claims involving premium cataract services and our findings are detailed in the lead article.
Aug 14, 2024
| Case Study
Credibility is essential in successfully defending a lawsuit. When chart notes are altered or made outside the patient’s chart, this significantly decreases the credibility of an insured. Such chart alterations and outside notes after an adverse outcome can hinder the defense of a case and leads to increased settlement value.
Oct 14, 2018
| Case Study
An ophthalmologist injected 8 patients to treat neovascular age-related macular degeneration. Despite treatment, each patient lost visual acuity. Seven of the eight patients filed lawsuits against the ophthalmologist and practice. From OMIC’s perspective, these cases were indefensible and needed to be settled.
Mar 15, 2020
| Case Study
This was a “perfect storm” for the plaintiff: the equipment had inherent design flaws that complicated the insured’s and the technician’s set up of the microkeratome, making both the manufacturer and the ophthalmologist liable for the harm.
Oct 10, 2024
| Case Study
Use of excess gas cases usually have devastating visual outcomes and often result in expensive settlements.
Feb 21, 2018
| Case Study
A patient presented to an OMIC insured comprehensive ophthalmologist on referral from the emergency department. He reported a fall at work where he struck the left side of his head, face, and hip. The insured did not appear to take the recent fall into account when evaluating the vision loss.
Aug 14, 2020
| Case Study
Both OMIC-insured cornea specialists were referred patients with the diagnosis of HSV, and they both continued to use this condition as their working diagnosis even though there were symptoms suggestive of acanthamoeba and the patients’ conditions did not improve. Under these circumstances, according to both defense and plaintiff experts, acanthamoeba needed to be considered.
Aug 11, 2022
| Case Study
OMIC has seen several sizeable settlements resulting from failure to diagnose giant cell arteritis cases in the past few years. The settlements are large because GCA, if diagnosis does not occur or is delayed, often leads to bilateral blindness in elderly patients. OMIC’s claims related to GCA have and continue to be problematic and are extremely difficult to defend in front of a jury.
Jan 9, 2015
| Case Study
It is important to review key studies like topography before the day of surgery. Even though the ophthalmologist correctly revised the surgical plan from bilateral simultaneous LASIK to LASIK OD and PRK OS following a diagnosis of forme fruste keratoconus, the patient deserved more information regarding the specific higher risks she faced postoperatively due to the FFK.
Oct 29, 2014
| Case Study
Ensuring that research subjects meet enrollment criteria protects the research subject, the investigator, and the data. The trial developers in this case built safety into the protocol for enrollment through redundancy: findings of edema were required on both clinical exam and OCT, so either a competent exam or an accurate OCT would have excluded this subject from the trial.
Jun 15, 2015
| Case Study
During the claims investigation, it became clear that this particular patient had many risk factors for a fall. She was 90 years old and had fallen and broken her left hip the previous year. She also had just had her eyes dilated during an ophthalmic examination.
Aug 15, 2024
| Case Study
Stress of litigation can be overwhelming. The first case settled at the insured's request because he could not bear the stress of a potential trial. The second case also settled after the insured took a medical leave due partially to the stress of litigation.
May 10, 2014
| Case Study
The patient history and physical exam were appropriately performed and documented; however, the insured did not take into account that the findings indicated an increased risk for bleeding and retinal detachment, which could lead to blindness in the patient’s remaining good eye.
Mar 25, 2015
| Case Study
Complaints from state health departments or medical boards should be referred to the OMIC claims department. No matter how “informal” a request for a response to a patient’s complaint may seem, these matters are serious and require legal representation in order to assure that the proper process is followed. This case also highlights the importance of the informed consent process when discussing a complex treatment plan with a patient.
Oct 1, 2019
| Case Study
The insured was aware that this patient was taking Plaquenil. Other complicating factors aside, the insured should have followed up with this patient on a more frequent basis and also should have performed multiple tests during each visit to rule out Plaquenil toxicity.
Sep 22, 2015
| Case Study
This case highlights the importance of communication with other healthcare providers. The ophthalmologist, internist, and neurologist did not effectively communicate with each other and did a substandard job of coordinating this patient’s care.
Dec 22, 2015
| Case Study
Only one postoperative examination occurred prior to proceeding with cataract surgery on the second eye. If another examination had taken place prior to the second surgery, it is possible that some vision loss may have been detected, thus leading to further exploration and cancellation of the second surgery.
Jul 16, 2014
| Case Study
There was definite liability in this case but who would be held responsible? The physicians could have avoided liability for this injury by documenting the event in the operative note and filing an incident report with the hospital following the procedure.
Apr 16, 2017
| Case Study
To meet the standard of care, an ophthalmologist must examine a child who has experienced a drastic visual decrease following trauma. The crux of this case was whether the ophthalmologist was informed that a drastic visual decrease had occurred.
Aug 7, 2023
| Case Study
It would have been risky to try this case in front of a jury with a young child who experienced a complete loss of vision in one eye with phthisis bulbi. There was the potential for a large plaintiff verdict, so the case was settled prior to trial. If endophthalmitis is remotely suspected, it is best to err on the side of caution and either ask the patient to come into the office immediately, or instruct them to go to the closest emergency room.