Friday, March 03, 2000
Jury rules against eye doctor
BY PHILLIP PINA
The Cincinnati Enquirer
A Hamilton County jury awarded patients of a Cincinnati eye doctor $2.3 million Thursday after they accused him and the company he works for of performing unneeded surgeries.
After a monthlong trial, the jury ruled against Dr. David G. Howard in three of 11 cases filed by former patients. Among accusations:
Dr. Howard performed cataractsurgery on patients who did not need it while he worked at Tri-State Eye Care in Anderson Township.
Stanley M. Chesley, an attorney representing patients, said the ruling is thought to be the first in Hamilton County where punitive damages against a physician were awarded. All the former patients were from southwest Ohio.
Michael Lyon, the attorney representing Dr. Howard, said the verdict will be appealed. He objected to testimony allowed in the case that he called hearsay. In addition, he said, the fact that 11 different cases were all tried at once may have swayed the jury.
“We had to fight off 11 cases at once,” Mr. Lyon said.
Disagreeing with Mr. Lyon, Mr. Chesley said the verdicts show that multiple cases can be tried together.
The jury ruled in favor of cases filed by Ruth and Oscar Siuda of Clermont County, who were awarded a total of $350,000 and attorney fees; Lora Maxwell of Ripley, who was awarded $1 million and attorney fees; and Ruth Hughes of Clermont County, who was awarded $950,000.
In the other eight cases, the jury ruled in favor of Dr. Howard and Tri-State Eye Care.
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