A plaintiff suffering from post-LASIK ectasia recently received a US$3 million verdict after the court ruled that the eye surgeon who performed LASIK correction surgery on her did not provide “sufficient” information and opportunities for her to give “sufficient” informed consent.

Of course, like all normative concepts, “sufficiency” or “insufficiency” are both highly subjective. Despite 8-page long informed consent document, a video, a brochure and even a general discussion of the risks of LASIK surgery with her referring optometrist, it was deemed that her consent was “insufficiently” informed.

Admittedly, some prospective LASIK patients need more hand-holding than others, so the court definitely had strong grounds to award its verdict. However, there is little doubt that not everyone is convinced that this verdict was rightly charged, especially to an award-winning surgeon who has trained more eye surgeons to perform refractive surgery than any other surgeon in New York.

In any case, this malpractice verdict only goes to show that there are still a good number of potential post-LASIK complications that could occur. So, make sure you dig deep into all the available information on this operation, and get pre-LASIK examination from a reputable eye surgeon.