A young student has received substantial compensation because the
eye infection she was suffering from was
undiagnosed. This lead to the condition deteriorating and resulted in her needing a
corneal graft.
The woman was a student at Oxford university when she had the eye infection. She was a
contact lens wearer and began to feel severe pain on removal of one of her contact lenses. The pain was so severe that she consulted her GP the next day.
The GP diagnosed
conjunctivitis and prescribed some eye drops. The true cause of the pain was a
scratch on the cornea, the clear window on the front of the eye. The scratch became infected and the condition of the eye deteriorated very quickly. The young woman went to her local hospital’s A & E Department the next day and fortunately the correct diagnosis of an infected
corneal ulcer was made.
Our client was transferred to a specialist eye unit where the infection was treated with intensive antibiotic therapy. Unfortunately, however, the cornea had become scarred. This is a common cause of blindness and visual impairment in young people. A
corneal graft was carried out in the following year. This is an operation in which part of the cornea is removed and replaced with a similar piece of cornea from a donor eye. The grafting was successful and it is hoped that her eyesight has been saved. However a percentage of grafts can fail at any point in the future due to
graft rejection, meaning that she could need a repeat transplant which carries a higher risk of failure than the first.
Our client’s claim was for a loss of earnings because she had to delay starting her career for two years while she received treatment. Also, fairly unusually in a clinical negligence case, a claim for
provisional damages was made, providing compensation for the risk that the graft might be rejected in years to come. Although her GP did not admit liability, it was still possible to negotiate a six-figure sum in settlement.
She was represented by
Henry Dyson, clinical negligence partner. Please call 020 7650 1200 for more information.
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