Doctor Operates on Wrong Eye

Added by David Sandercock on April 21, 2011

A US boy who received surgery on the wrong eye will have to wait for five weeks to find out if the mistake will cause any permanent damage to his eyes.

 

The boy, four-year-old Jesse Matlock, was having surgery to correct a wandering right eye. The operation, aiming at weakening the muscles at the bottom of the eye, was however performed on his left eye.

According to ABC News, Jesse will not be able to tell if the damage to his left eye will be permanent until the eye has healed from the surgery.

“Right now we’re in the dark about what it will be like in the future,” said Jesse’s mother, Tasha Gaul.

Jesse’s doctor, Dr Shawn Goodman, who had also recommended the operation, informed Ms Gaul that she had lost her sense of direction during the surgery, and as a result ended up operating on the wrong eye.

According to Dr Goodman the mistake was caused by a nurse who accidentally had covered the pre-surgery marks she had made.

Jesse is now left with a wandering left eye and a right eye that cannot fix on a target. He needs to apply eye drops three times per day and to wear dark sunglasses.