Diagnosis Delays Intensify Eyedrop Injuries

Rare and antibiotic-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections related to tainted eyedrops have caught even the most experienced doctors off-guard.

A 72-year-old woman who didn’t wear contacts showed signs of an eye infection, including unusual discharge and an unusual appearance. Her first treating physician prescribed antibiotics, which didn’t work. She then consulted infectious disease specialist Dr. Morgan Morelli, who admitted that “We were racking our heads trying to figure out how this happened.” It took several months to confirm that the woman’s infection had come from a contaminated bottle of EzriCare artificial tears, a product linked to dozens of similar eye infections nationwide. “She probably scratched the left eye with the eyedropper accidentally and didn’t realize it because she had no feeling,” Morelli hypothesized. “That allowed the infection to enter the eye much more easily and quickly in that eye before it ever affected the right one.”

Recalled EzriCare Artificial Tears and Delsam Pharma’s Artificial Eye Ointment have seriously injured people in eight states. Four of these victims died.

Bacteria in Eyedrops

Typically, bacterial infections are not very serious. Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections, however, are.

Here’s why: First, these infections are rare outside clinical settings and are often difficult to spot.  Second, infected patients deteriorate very quickly and often develop sepsis (flesh-eating). Third, Pseudomonas aeruginosa is immune to most antibiotics. Only strong, intravenous antibiotics control these infections.

Powerful antibiotics often have side-effects. Common side effects of antibiotics can include rash, dizziness, nausea, diarrhea, and yeast infections. More serious side effects include Clostridioides difficile (C. difficile or C. diff) infections, which cause severe diarrhea that badly damages the colon. These infections are usually life-threatening. Anaphylactic (severe allergic reactions) are often life threatening as well. 

Antibiotic overuse is a problem as well. These drugs don’t effectively combat all bacterial infections, such as most cases of bronchitis, many sinus infections, and some ear infections. If doctors prescribe antibiotics in these situations, which they often do, the patient can become immune to these drugs. So, when the next infection comes along, doctors must use stronger drugs that have a higher likelihood of strong side-effects.

Medical Misdiagnosis

Unpredictable illnesses, like bacterial infections, are hard to diagnose. This difficulty doesn’t excuse medical negligence, however. Other difficult-to-diagnose conditions include:

• Cancer: Doctors expect to find cancer in patients with certain genetic backgrounds and lifestyles. Late cancer diagnosis is almost literally the difference between life and death. Many cancers are so aggressive that they quickly spread through the body and become untreatable.
• Heart Disease: Most doctors also look for lifestyle and genetic markers in these situations. Many doctors also look for signature symptoms, which many patients don’t have. For example, female heart attack victims rarely have severe chest pain.
• Head Injuries: Injury-related conditions are inherently hard to diagnose since they come out of nowhere. Additionally, in the wake of a car crash or other serious injury incident, adrenaline masks pain. So, many patients tell their doctors they “feel fine,” and their doctors may not follow up with diagnostic head examinations.

A common denominator, lack of reliable information, usually applies in these diverse misdiagnosed conditions.

Making matters worse, if doctors order tests, many over-delegate test interpretation to nurses, patient care technicians, and other less qualified professionals.

When doctors make such medical mistakes, our medical malpractice lawyers can hold them responsible.

Medical Duty of Care

If non-professionals, like vehicle drivers, make mistakes, these mistakes aren’t always negligence, or a lack of care. There’s a difference between watching a video on a phone and swiping away a call, even though both acts constitute device distraction.

But the duty of care is much higher in doctor and other professional negligence cases. These individuals have a fiduciary duty. Therefore, almost any misdiagnosis or other medical error is negligence.

Because doctors have such a high duty of care, and because patients put their trust entirely in their doctors, an experienced medical malpractice attorney is often able to obtain substantial damages in these cases. These damages often include additional punitive damages. Jurors award these damages if there’s clear and convincing evidence that the doctor intentionally disregarded a known risk.

Injury victims are entitled to substantial compensation. For a free consultation with an skilled medical malpractice attorney in New York, contact Napoli Shkolnik. The sooner you reach out to us, the sooner we start fighting for you.