As a law clerk I got the chance to see a medical malpractice suit in federal court involving damage done to an eye. The thing that really was impressed upon me was the major problems that people have when they are left with only one good working eye. So I found particularly disturbing the State of Washington story about the boy who had the wrong eye operated on.
The 4 year old boy had a wandering eye. So his parents agreed to have him go through a procedure that would help with that. Unfortunately, due to the doctor "losing his sense of direction" the wrong eye was done. So the safety net that the boy had was removed. He now suffers with problems in both eyes.
This is the kind of story that shocks the senses. It shouldn’t happen and despite absolutely accepting that the doctor had no intention of it happening, it is no different then the person who rear ends another or causes a collision by driving too fast.
As a four year old, he has a loss that will last forever. But, one which the tort reformers will tell you should be capped at some artificial number. Now even with reading the extensive coverage that has been done of the case, I have no idea what the overall damages are. I hope that justice will insure that the boy is taken care of.
But, with no wage loss and the bills taken care of, the insurance loving malpractice reformers will just walk away and say "too bad". This is a real case that would be affected by made up numbers. It seems that these legislators have also lost their sense of direction.
