February
4, 2004
TUCSON,
Ariz.
Appeals court overturns
judge's order for new trial in pilot's case.
United Airline Pilot Steven Post
The decision reinstates the $4 million verdict, the largest award ever given in a case involving the popular eye surgery, said the attorney for plaintiff Steve Post.
Steve Posts interview with Fox News
Post, a 33-year-old resident of Sierra Vista,
is a former commercial pilot for United Airlines who claims his night vision
was destroyed by the surgery, rendering him unable to fly for major airlines
since May 2000.
Post won the $4 million verdict in a May 2002 trial against University
Physicians Inc., the clinic that performed the surgery.
What happened to Post has happened to thousands across the US. His pupils were too large coupled with his high correction made him a bad candidate for this procedure. He was doomed to have the problems he has with his night vision, you can't blame this on the procedure, it is the fault of the surgeon not doing a proper evaluation.
You will find some Lasik
patients that have large pupils that claim they don't have any problems.
Most of them you will find had a mild correction less than -3 D. The higher
the correction, the more tissue they have to burn away, the more tissue they
have to burn away the more your optical zone will shrink.
The 6.5mm ablation zone that they used ended up only creating 5.5mm
optical zone after his eyes healed which is too small for a pupil that
measures 7.5mm
This is probably hard for you to understand, I know it was for me, but this was what happened to me. One thing that is not hard to understand, they warn the doctors in the VISX Star Excimer S2 Lasar (3.1 Software) hand book to forewarn patients with large pupils and high corrections that they are at a higher risk of complications.
Post and I (Zig) had the
same exact laser and software used to correct our vision.
We both had large pupils over 7mm and we both had high corrections. Post's
correction was -5 D, I was twice as bad at -10.25 D.
I am glad Post got $4 million!
I got Peanuts!