South Florida woman says face-lift procedure left her nearly blind, finds out surgeon doesn’t have medical malpractice insurance

By Heather Walker, Darcelle Hall

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    MIAMI, Florida (WSVN) — A South Florida woman says she was left disfigured and nearly blind by her surgeon, and now she’s finding out the doctor doesn’t have insurance.

7’s Heather Walker investigates.

Seventy-year-old Dian doesn’t want us to use her last name.

She’s embarrassed by the big patch over her eye and doesn’t want to be seen in public.

Dian/plastic surgery patient: “Now, I spend a lot of time watching TV, whereas before I was out and about dancing, in the gym and, you know, doing all kinds of things, and that kind of has been ripped away.”

Dian says she has to wear the patch because she is in constant pain.

Dian: “I can’t tolerate air conditioning, fans, cooking, when you open the oven door.”

Her eye was damaged during plastic surgery.

Back in February, she had a partial face-lift. She says she knew the minute she woke up from surgery that something was very wrong.

Dian: “I was screaming because it was total blackness. I couldn’t even see a little speck of light. Nothing. Completely black.”

The pictures are disturbing.

Dian says the surgery left her unable to fully close her eyes, and six months later, she still hasn’t fully regained her vision, especially in her right eye.

Dian: “My eyes, are asymmetrical now. I can’t see. I can’t see.”

She immediately called her surgeon and went to see him at his clinic in Davie.

But she says she got nowhere.

Dian: “He just left me in the waiting room for about three or four hours and the desk girl came in and gave me a bottle of saline and some gauze sponges.”

Next, she went to an eye specialist and got more bad news.

Dian: “‘Because your eye isn’t closing, the cornea is drying out and now that’s it’s dried out so much, you’ve created this huge, ulcerated cornea and that’s why you can’t see.’ I don’t know if I’m going to need to have my eye sewn shut.”

7News contacted Dian’s surgeon.

He sent an email saying he “did not operate [on] her eyelids…”

He also says he “…asked her to come back for follow ups” and offered “a follow up right now for post op evaluation.”

Dian considered filing a lawsuit but discovered the surgeon doesn’t have medical malpractice insurance.

Dian: “I’m at a loss at this point.”

Attorney William Robinson says doctors who don’t practice in hospitals are not required to carry malpractice insurance.

William Robinson: “They’re supposed to have a sign on the door or their office letting potential patients know that they don’t carry insurance and they are going to be financially responsible.”

You can also find whether physicians have malpractice insurance under their profile on Florida’s Department of Public Health website.

Dian could sue her surgeon personally, but right now, she wants to concentrate on her health.

Dian: “I understand if I need to go to an ocular plastic surgeon, that can cost in excess of $30,000.”

Dian’s face-lift was supposed to make her feel better about herself. Instead, she has been scarred physically and emotionally and financially traumatized.

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