I went for my appointment with the retina specialist. Had a very thorough exam by a very nice (I thought at the time) doctor. He took lots of photos for a baseline.

The macular pucker in the long term may need surgery or it may never need it. Right now it's fine, my vision is good. The flickering is vitreous gel pulling on the retina, and not related to the wrinkling. It's caused by age and may correct on its own.

I just find it strange that all of the sudden I have two things wrong in one eye. But I have no explanation or reason for that other than age.

So I went home with dilated eyes. Always such a pain, right? But I always know when I wake up in the morning it will be gone.

Except this time it was still there in the morning. By afternoon I was a little concerned so I called the office. I was wondering if retina specialists use stronger drops than regular eye doctors. Never got a call back. The next day I was really worried so I called again. I finally got a nurse on the phone who said something about a mistake. I said, "Mistake? What do you mean?"

"She used the wrong drops."

I got a couple more answers that were basically a runaround and she said I'll have to call you back. Got the feeling she just wanted off the phone or someone told her to get off because I was really peppering her with questions. She never called back. By this time I was totally livid. I called back and talked to the receptionist. I asked to talk to a technician. She came on the phone and said she was with a patient and promised to call me back in a couple of minutes. An hour later no call. I called back and discovered this person went to lunch! "You mean she told me she would call me back in a couple of minutes and she went to lunch??"

"Yes, she has to eat."

So I explained everything that had been happening to the receptionist and she told me she would have the office manager call me within 10 minutes. He did.

The explanation: This fairly new technician picked up the wrong bottle of eyedrops. She used atropine, a long term dilating drop. He informed me I could be dilated for 5 or 6 days! Apparently I think because people called, (I have since learned she did it to FIFTEEN patients), someone went in to see what she had been using and found the wrong bottle. Can you imagine? She never looked at the bottle before putting it in people's eyes! I could be totally blind now!

So there I was. Could barely see and couldn't drive. I wondered what the people were doing who had to go to work, or were about to leave on a vacation, etc. A nightmare!

I called my regular eye doctor, (he's great), and asked him what he thought. He wanted me to come in to check the pressure in my eyes, since it is possible for atropine to cause a problem. Is anyone checking all the other people???? No one called from that office to say they should check my eyes. I got a ride over and it was fine. And then he said I could be dilated for 10 days. I have since read online that it could be 14! People with light eyes can have it longer. Mine are green.

So right now I am in day eight. Haven't been anywhere except a few appointments that my husband drove me to. It is finally starting to wear off. But I am soooooooooooooo angry because there has been no recognition from this doctor or his office. I got a "sorry" from the office manager. But I would expect something from the doctor. They screwed up the lives of 15 people and now are hiding. I was told by a very nice technician in the office that they're scared. I would imagine their insurance company has told them to say nothing.

Why can't they see that all it would take is a call from the doctor saying how sorry he is? I told my husband I don't know what I'll do when I open their bill. I could totally lose it! Am I supposed to pay for being incapacitated and treated like this?? Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!

The manager told me this person is being fired and one person is controlling the drops now. I'm supposed to go back in 6 months, but not sure I can if this continues. Right now I have no confidence in the office procedures that allowed this to happen or in a doctor that doesn't care enough about his patients to pick up the phone. The medical world is a very scary place right now.

Any suggestions out there?

Posted by elizabeth | Filed under:

1. Posted by V davis on November 13, 2005

2. Posted by Elizabeth on November 15, 2005

3. Posted by Kathy on December 16, 2005

4. Posted by Elizabeth on December 16, 2005

5. Posted by Tracy on January 27, 2006