Couple awarded $7 million after man loses eye after cataract surgery

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A Knox County Circuit Court jury has handed down a $7 million verdict against a Knoxville ophthalmologist after a Knoxville lost an eye following cataract surgery.

According to a WBIR.com report, Gerald and Deborah McCoy filed the lawsuit against Lauren Harris, MD, of University Eye Surgeons in 2018 in Knox County Circuit Court.

The jury awarded Gerald McCoy $6 million and his wife Deborah McCoy should $1 million after March 2017 procedure resulted in the loss of his eye.

According to court records, the verdict was issued on Sept. 1, according to 10 News.

Robbie Pryor, of the Knoxville firm Pryor, Priest, Harber, Floyd & Coffey, represented the McCoys, according to the report, and he told the station that his clients felt vindicated after the case wound its way through the courts for nearly 5 years.

According to the WBIR report, Gerald McCoy went in for cataract surgery on his left eye. Harris performed the procedure at Tennessee Valley Eye Center.

A day after the surgery, McCoy was suffering great pain, according to the WBIR report, and within a day he had a fever, and had blurred vision, and vomited during a follow-up visit to Harris’s office.

McCoy ultimately developed a severe eye infection that resulted in a loss of vision in the eye, which was removed and replaced with a prosthetic eye, according to the report.

According to court records, the lawsuit, which named Harris among the defendants, claimed the physician was negligent in the care provided to McCoy.

Harris was represented by James London and Andrew S. Roskind of the London Amburn firm.