Patients take fight to US

British patients fitted with faulty lenses during cataract surgery may end up seeking compensation in the US - because they claim the company which imported the lenses was not insured.

A law firm representing 25 patients alleges that the NHS agency which bought the lenses from the UK importers failed to carry out the necessary checks to make sure the importer - Ophthalmic Innovations International (UK) - had insurance.

'This has left patients in the UK, the majority of whom are pensioners, with no option but to take their legal battle to America,' said a spokesman for Preston solicitors Birchall Blackburn.

Patients were fitted with a lens imported from America by OII (UK), made by American company Ophthalmic Innovations International. These were damaged by their packaging, resulting in an adverse reaction with patients, several of whom were left with cloudy vision and had to undergo corrective surgery.

One patient, Grace Williams, 81, from Bolton-le-Sands, was left with such poor vision following the surgery that she fell over and broke her elbow, while Jean Hodkinson, 76, from Carnforth said her life had been on hold for the past four years.

Duncan Stackhouse, legal executive at Birchall Blackburn, said: 'We were faced with two options - either to go against the American manufacturers and keep court proceedings in this country or we could take the claims to America. In practice the only option was to go to America. 'These patients feel completely let down.  They have had to wait a long time to have the replacement operations. In some cases it is a success, in other cases it isn't. They have had to put up with poor quality vision for years.'

A spokeswoman for the NHS Purchasing & Supply Agency, said: 'We're cooperating with lawyers who are dealing with the case. We do require our suppliers to have insurance.'
david.challinor@rbi.co.uk