National Eye Health Week
Our overall ‘health and wellbeing’ is very important and receives a lot of media attention.
We are regularly told to monitor what we eat, exercise and stay healthy wherever possible; but how many people would consider the health of their eyes to be something that requires regular attention?
It might not be until our vision becomes affected, that we would probably give consideration to the importance of the health of our eyes. However, by that stage vision can be affected and it may be too late to prevent any further damage or reverse any damage that has occurred. It is estimated that nearly two million people are living with severe sight loss and 50% of those people have suffered in avoidable circumstances.
There are several health conditions that can cause damage to vision that people rarely know of. For example, uncontrolled diabetes can lead to diabetic retinopathy requiring laser surgery in up to 30-40% of people with the condition and up to 2-3% of those will eventually turn blind. It is important that if you have diabetes you attend yearly reviews to consider the health of your eyes and to catch any developing problems at the earliest opportunity to prevent any long term damage.
High blood pressure not properly controlled with medication puts patients at a considerably higher risk of having a stroke, which can also lead to vision loss.
There are also several well known conditions such as retinal detachment that can occur suddenly and spontaneously, which, if not treated promptly, can lead to severe and irreversible loss of vision.
National Eye Health week takes place from 24 – 30 September 2018 and aims to educate people on the importance of eye health and why regular eye testing is imperative.
Wolferstans are specialist medical negligence Solicitors and are sadly well versed in cases where people have sought prompt treatment and have been let down by those treating them. It is unfortunately often the case that people with conditions known to cause permanent vision loss are not regularly monitored and as a result lose their sight which can have devastating affects on their personal and work life. Sometimes more sudden events can occur requiring immediate intervention, which, unless performed, can lead to severe and irreversible vision loss.
Wolferstans have successfully recovered compensation for clients who have suffered visual problems because of medical negligence.
Recently, we recovered compensation for a client who experienced a delay in diagnosing temporal arteritis. Our client saw his General Practitioner in Plymouth, complaining of headaches which were not relieved even with a strong dose of painkillers. He had also been experiencing a sore jaw and pain down both sides of his face and neck.
His GP considered the possibility that he might have developed temporal arteritis however dismissed this and diagnosed him as suffering with a tension headache. His GP did not however, arrange for an ESR blood test, which would have confirmed the condition. Unfortunately, as a result of the delay our client’s vision deteriorated and he was ultimately registered blind some three years later.
Our client required significant care because of his disability, and we were able to recover £100,000 for him, which he was able to use to cover the cost of his care on a private basis.
More information about the National Eye Health Week can be found at http://www.visionmatters.org.uk/