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A woman who could not see with her right eye suffered a two-month delay in receiving treatment after an optometrist failed to investigate a “float” in her right eye.
An eye surgeon who helped advocate for the woman said the delay in treatment was likely to make her vision worse.
“If I hadn’t bothered to have my own optometrist give me another checkup and I would have been lucky enough to have [health] Sure, so I was able to continue my expedited surgery, another patient in my position may have been left severely visually impaired, “the woman said in a report from the Health and Disability Commission released today.
An HDC investigation found that the optometrist violated the Health and Disability Services Consumers’ Rights Code for the failure and was ordered to audit all of his clinical evaluations to ensure they were properly documented.
The woman, whose name is not being released for privacy reasons, was on vacation when the float suddenly appeared in her right eye.
Floaters are spots on a person’s vision that are often harmless, but can sometimes be a symptom of a developing eye condition or underlying health problem.
He contacted his regular optometrist, after the float was still there five days later, who told him not to wait until he returned from vacation and advised him to have it checked immediately.
She was seen by an optometrist in the area where she was on vacation who, although he performed several tests that showed “significant reduced vision,” did not document all of the evaluation findings and instead checked a box that did not report changes in her vision.
Two months later, the woman went to her regular optometrist when she still couldn’t see objects in the middle of her right eye.
It was there that she was diagnosed with a macular hole caused by the float and was urgently referred to see an ophthalmologist (a specialist in eye surgery).
The macula provides the sharp, central vision needed for reading, driving, and viewing fine details. A macular hole can cause blurred and distorted central vision.
His regular optometrist wrote a letter to the surgeon saying, “It is extremely disappointing that the optometrist [Mrs A] saw [while on holiday] he did not undertake any further investigation due to the fact that the vision in the right eye was getting so bad. “
In a letter from the clinic, the surgeon said that the macular hole had closed, but that as a result of the delay in its treatment, “it may be that this delay is the cause of poor vision.”
He noted “a bit of a cataract” and suggested that cataract surgery might need to be done “sooner rather than later” to try to improve the women’s vision.
The lawyer for the guilty optometrist said in the report: “She is disappointed and regrets that this [full thickness macular hole] diagnosis. Since the complaint was filed, he has spent considerable time reflecting on the case, both personally and with his colleagues, and now understands that he should have done more research, given the results of the visual acuity test. She agrees that by not doing so, her actions did not comply with best practice. “
Deputy Commissioner for Health and Disability Kevin Allan criticized the optometrist, saying she should have taken more diagnostic steps to investigate the cause of the woman’s reduced vision.
“As a result [of the failure to investigate], The cause of [the woman’s] symptoms were not identified and surgery to treat his degenerated vision was delayed, “Allan said.
Allan also criticized the fact that the optometrist did not fully document the findings of his evaluation or the method of examination.
She recommended that the optometrist conduct a documentation audit to confirm that all clinical evaluations have been fully documented and provide a written apology to the woman.
Allan also recommended that the New Zealand Board of Optometrists and Dispensing Opticians consider whether a review of the optometrist’s competence is warranted.
