Cataract Surgery Malpractice
Cataract surgery is among the most common operations performed in the United States. It is quick, standardized, and usually successful. When it is done negligently, the result is anything but routine: infection, a lens that was never right, vision that does not come back. Riki Ghosh spent years defending these exact cases for ophthalmologists. Now he puts that fluency to work for New York patients.
Routine for the surgeon. Not for you.
In a cataract operation, the surgeon removes the eye’s clouded natural lens and replaces it with an artificial one, matched to precise measurements of your eye. Millions of these procedures are performed in this country every year, and the systems around them, meaning the measurements, the surgical steps, the follow-up schedule are among the most standardized in all of medicine. That is why negligence stands out. When a practice cuts a corner, the deviation from the accepted standard of care is often written right in the chart.
The most serious injuries usually come not from the moment of surgery alone but from what happens around it: a lens measurement nobody double-checked, a post-operative warning sign dismissed over the phone, an infection given a weekend to grow.
What negligence looks like in a cataract case.
The wrong intraocular lens implanted, or the right lens in the wrong power. The lens capsule ruptured during surgery, with fragments left behind in the eye. Endophthalmitis, an infection inside the eye, diagnosed or treated too late to save vision. Retinal detachment missed at follow-up visits. Corneal damage from the procedure itself. Patients cleared for surgery who were poor candidates, or asked to sign consent forms for risks nobody actually explained.
A complication is not automatically a case.
Every operation carries known risks, and a poor outcome by itself is not negligence. What matters is whether the care met the accepted standard. That question is answered in the records: the biometry, the operative note, the timing of every post-operative call. New York law requires a certificate of merit, a sworn statement that a qualified physician has reviewed the case, before a malpractice suit is even filed. The medical review is not a formality. It is the case.
He learned these cases from the defense chair.
For years, Riki Ghosh defended ophthalmologists, their practices, and medical centers in precisely these lawsuits. He knows the experts who testify in them, how insurers value vision loss, and how the defense will read your chart. Reading charts that way used to be his job.
Consultations are confidential and there is no cost to discuss your matter. See the broader ophthalmology malpractice practice, or read a plain-English guide to New York’s filing deadlines.
Cataract surgery malpractice in New York.
Is a bad outcome after cataract surgery malpractice?
Usually not. Cataract surgery is one of the most common operations in the United States, and the overwhelming majority go well. Known complications can occur even with excellent care. Malpractice means the care fell below the accepted standard: the wrong lens was implanted, an infection was not treated in time, a complication was mishandled. Telling the difference requires an expert review of the medical records.
What errors most often lead to cataract surgery claims?
Implanting the wrong intraocular lens, or the wrong lens power. Rupture of the lens capsule with lens fragments left in the eye. Post-operative infections such as endophthalmitis that were not diagnosed or treated promptly. Retinal detachment missed at follow-up. Patients cleared for surgery who were poor candidates, or who consented to risks nobody actually explained.
How long do I have to bring a cataract malpractice case in New York?
In general, New York allows two and a half years, counted from the malpractice or from the end of continuous treatment by the same provider. Important exceptions can shorten that dramatically. Claims against public hospitals generally require a formal notice within 90 days. The safest course is to have your dates reviewed promptly.
What does it cost to have my case reviewed?
An initial consultation to discuss your matter is confidential and comes at no cost. If a case is taken, fee arrangements are discussed directly and clearly at the outset.
Tell him what happened.
There’s no cost and no obligation, just a direct, confidential conversation with the attorney who would handle your case.