Posts Tagged ‘new york’

On June 10, 2009, a New York City jury found Dr. Kevin Niksarli liable to Johnson Devadas for $2,360,000 in lost income and $3,1000,0000 for pain and suffering after Dr. Niksarli committed Lasik malpractice.  Dr. Niksarli wrongly decided that Mr. Devadas was a candidate for Lasik surgery.  The jury also awarded Saramma Devaddas $120,000 for her lost consortium claim.  The total award was for nearly $6 million.  Mr. Devadas is a pharmacists from Queens, New York.  Judge Doris Ling-Cohan presided over the trial in New York County Supreme Court.  The Lasik malpractice verdict is reported to be the second largest New York Lasik malpractice verdict in history and possibly the largest Lasik malpractice verdict in United States in history.

The Lasik malpractice trial lasted about 10 days and the plaintiff presented evidence through experts that he was in fact misdiagnosed as a candidate for Lasik surgery.  His experts claimed he suffered from fruste keratoconus, which is contraindicated for Lasik surgery candidates.  After the Lasik surgery, the plaintiffs cornea developed post-Lasik ectasia, which is a progressive thinning of the cornea.  Ectasia can cause blurriness, halos, double vision, glare, contrast sensitivity, starbursts and other problems over the distortion of light passing through the damaged cornea.

Perhaps most alarming and what may have helped justify the significant verdict, plaintiffs presented evidence that Dr. Niksarli intentionally and artifically aged a note in his chart concerning a conversation he allegedly had with the the plaintiffs concerning the risks, benefits and the alternatives to Lasik surgery.