• March 13, 2019
• CMZ Law
• no comments

Who is liable for the blinding of the 68 cataract surgery patients?

Alarming stories have emerged from dozens of patients who were treated at a Dallas eye center for cataracts, only to end up blind.  One 57-year-old man underwent cataract surgery in 2017. After the procedure, the patient was injected with a medication intended to speed up healing.  Weeks later, the truck driver found himself blind in one eye. He is far from the only patient to experience vision loss after surgery in the Dallas area.  Investigations have traced the cause of the complication to a knock off version of the injectable drug called TriMoxi. Now, a complex legal web has emerged as the injured plaintiffs attempt to determine who is responsible for the tremendous injuries suffered due to the seemingly defective drug.

Shifting Liability Among Defendants

With so many questions still surrounding precisely why the injectable drug resulted in blindness, glares, flashing lights, and halos in some Dallas area patients, the injured patients have sued several defendants.  Currently, the plaintiffs, which number into the dozens, have sued the pharmacy that mixed the drug, the drug manufacturer, and the clinic which injected the drug.

Each of the defendants is attempting to shift blame to the others. The maker of the drug is saying the problem with the injectable stems from how it was mixed, thus pointing the finger at the pharmacy who mixed it.  Guardian Pharmacy Services, the party who mixed the drug, is blaming the clinic and the cataract surgery itself. Per the pharmacy, the patient’s symptoms are all known complications of cataract surgery. The clinic has countered that the drug is to blame and it has a strong reputation with minimal complications among patients.

This emerging legal battle over who is liable for a seemingly defective drug or compound illustrates perfectly the complications of a defective drug lawsuit.  In the realm of medicine, there are so many parties involved in the creation, decimation, and use of a drug, that it can be difficult to ascertain exactly where the defect developed.  As such, it is critically important that any injured patient seek the assistance of a defective products or medical malpractice attorney as soon as possible after their injury.