Doctor shoots Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) into patient's eye, causing permanent damage. $213K. San Luis Obispo County.

Injuries and Other Damages

• Physical Injuries claimed by Plaintiff:

  Although eye injuries from IPL treatments were (and, to a large extent, still are) relatively new, plaintiff's injuries are the same injuries that the IPL manufacturer warns against, and they are the same injuries that are detailed in the medical literature. Joanna’s injuries include iritis, left eye pain, synechiae, transillumination defects, photophobia, left-side headaches, reduced left-eye field of vision, and bouts of raised intraocular pressure. Joanna was prescribed a number of medications, including dilating drops and steroid drops (prednisolone) and pain relievers (including Nevanac). Joanna’s initial iritis cleared up about two months after the initial injury and her visual acuity was normal, but Joanna continued to suffer from left eye pain, synechiae, transillumination defects, photophobia, glare issues, dark-light adaptation problems, left-side headaches, and occasional bouts of raised intraocular pressure.

  In the days following the IPL treatment, Joanna’s condition grew worse. She experienced severe pain and light sensitivity, which triggered debilitating headaches. The pain was so severe that Joanna was forced to remain in her room in the dark much of the day with shades and the blinds drawn, unable to withstand virtually any light exposure to her eye. Because the anatomy and function of human eyes is such that the left eye and the right eye work together (bilaterally) and experience the same effects, Joanna’s left eye injuries affected her right eye.  That is, Joanna could not escape her photophobia/light sensitivity, even if she wore a patch on her left eye. 

  Joanna promptly sought medical treatment from eye specialists, starting with Dr. Christopher Hulburd, M.D., an Ophthalmology specialist at Pacific Eye in Paso Robles. Joanna sought treatment from Dr. Hulburd on at least five separate occasions. However, he was unable to provide a fix for the ongoing pain and photophobia she was continuing to experience. Shortly thereafter, when it was clear the photophobia and pain were not subsiding, Joanna sought additional treatment from a wide array of health care professionals in a range of specialties, including pain, neurology, and Ophthalmology. Her consultations included physicians associated with the Jules Stein Eye Institute, UCLA pain management specialists, and specialists at the University of Miami’s Bascom Palmer Eye Institute. She received a number of consultations, examinations and prescriptions. Unfortunately, the consensus of the eye specialists was that Joanna’s injuries are permanent.

  Joanna’s life has largely been reduced to spending the majority of her time in artificially darkened parts of her home with blinds and curtains drawn to avoid the entry of natural light.

• Before being injured by Dr. Bettencourt, Joanna was industrious and worked a number of jobs at any one time, including part-time promotional modeling/marketing and sales, part-time to full-time in a contracting business, and part-time to full-time in a small cotton-candy manufacturing and delivery business that she started and developed. The cotton-candy business supplied retail food chains. Joanna also took care of various home-based responsibilities, such as cleaning the home, cleaning the pool, and mowing the lawn/gardening. 

  Since being injured, Joanna has been effectively unable to work or take part in her normal day-to-day activities.

  Joanna’s injuries, especially her photophobia/light sensitivity, have required Joanna and Chris to employ help with housekeeping, cleaning the pool, mowing the lawn/gardening, driving, and basic errands. 

  Joanna’s loss of ability to do things that were part of her everyday life has taken its toll on her psychologically, and it has placed pressure on her marital relationship. She continues to experience emotional pain and suffering as a result of the injuries and the extreme limitations it has placed on her ability to live her life as she did before Dr. Bettencourt injured her. Joanna has participated in, and continues to participate in, therapeutic psychology treatment with a licensed therapist for the emotional trauma her limitations have caused her.  

   Joanna is now extremely limited in the quality time she can spend with Chris. By extension, Chris has suffered a diminished experience of marital consortium because of Joanna’s injuries.