Dangerous Contact Lens Solution: Bausch & Lomb Settles 600 Eye Fungus Lawsuits
Over the past year, the optical products company Bausch and Lomb has quietly settled nearly 600 fungal-infection lawsuits for causing multiple cases of personal injury, with dozens more individual claims yet to be resolved. So far it has cost the company more than $250 million.
According to this article, more than 700 lens wearers in the United States and Asia say they were exposed to a potentially blinding infection known as Fusarium keratitis while using ReNu with MoistureLoc, a new-formula multipurpose solution for cleaning, storing, and moistening soft contact lenses.
Sometimes, the eye injury damage was irreparable, including seven people who had to have an eye removed and 60 more Americans who needed vision-saving corneal transplants. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed 180 cases in 35 states from June 2005 through September 2006. The CDC continued to hear of sporadic, unconfirmed cases in the months after MoistureLoc was withdrawn.
Among out-of-court settlements reached in May was one brought by a Broadway actress and comedienne whose eye was scarred. In Colorado, a corneal transplant ended a race-car driver’s career. The culprit was a rare infection that most eye doctors had never seen before. The outbreak appeared first in Hong Kong in spring 2005 and reached its peak in the United States just days after MoistureLoc was removed from domestic markets in April 2006.
Victims typically complained of eye irritation that progressed to a sudden onset of searing pain. Many were mistakenly treated with antibiotics and steroids, which actually worsened the condition. Leading eye doctors and government scientists concluded that MoistureLoc was the only lens solution that contributed to the outbreak. Yet the mechanics of how it caused the problem are still not fully clear.
Some researchers theorize that the disinfectant, alexidine, absorbed into lenses at unusually high rates and the moisturizing agents created a biofilm in some circumstances that shielded and even fostered growth of the fungus to infectious levels. According to the article, the MoistureLoc disaster may end up costing as much as $500 million. Bausch says it has settled the majority of fungal infection cases, but it is challenging another 500-plus lawsuits linking MoistureLoc to assorted bacterial, viral, and parasitic afflictions.
As a consumer in Pennsylvania, you have the right to assume that products you purchase or use have been produced in a manner that would ensure that they are safe and free from unreasonable risks. Under Pennsylvania product liability, if a company manufactures or sells a product that is hazardous to the user, the company must be held liable for any injuries or fatalities that occurred due to the faulty product.
If you have a Pennsylvania defective product claim, you will require the representation of a Philadelphia Pennsylvania products liability attorney from Cherry, Fieger, and Marciano, LLP to handle all of the complexities involved with this type of case. There are many steps to a product liability case, beginning with proving that the product was in fact defective, next proving the product was the cause of the injury, and finally proving that the product was not used unreasonably. Please contact our firm today to discuss your case with an experienced legal professional.
