Six figure recovery for blindness in 83-year-old female

Most medication errors happen as a result of simple clerical mistakes, either a prescription being
written improperly or filled improperly. This case was no different. Here, an elderly woman in
an Allegheny County hospital was being discharged after undergoing routine abdominal surgery.
For some unknown reason, and due to a clear staff error, the computer entered a discharge order
that she receive a heavy dose of steroid drops in her eye even though her hospital stay had
nothing to do with eye care. She was then transferred to a local nursing and rehabilitation center
and that facility followed the order to give her daily steroid drops in her eyes. Unfortunately,
over time, those drops led to loss of vision in one eye. Fortunately, the vision in the other eye
was preserved.

We provided the hospital with notice of the mistake, and they did not dispute the claim. The
debate in the case was centered over the value for loss of vision in one eye in an 83-year-old
individual. The loss had a noticeable impact in that she no longer drove at night, had difficulty
with balance and depth perception, and most importantly, she lost her “safety net” since she
would become totally blind if something were to happen to her “good” eye.