Veteran’s Blindness and Brain Damage Caused by Eye Injection
August 16, 2011
What if you went to the doctor for a new a pair of glasses and walked out blind and brain damaged? This is the reality for one 77-year-old Army veteran, who has filed a claim against the US Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) after an injection he received at their facility caused a serious infection and almost cost him his life.
The man walked into the Chattanooga, Tennessee hospital on March 29th and woke up two days later with a terrible headache, severe pain throughout his body, and a loss of vision. He went to the hospital again and was diagnosed with bacterial endophthalmitis. He was also informed that four other patients who had received the injections were also suffering from infections. Days later, the vet returned to the hospital and his condition quickly deteriorated. He was diagnosed with meningitis and is now in a vegetative state, requiring constant care.
The drug the man was injected with, Avastin, is typically used in cancer treatment, but is used off label for macular degeneration. This means the drug shouldn’t have been used at all on the patient. The VA says the drug was contaminated in the pharmacy when it was mixed to lower the dosage level.
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