NYC Jury Awards Woman $15M for Failure to Diagnose Glaucoma

A woman who says she went blind after doctors at a New York City hospital failed to diagnose her glaucoma has won $15 million in a malpractice lawsuit.

The Daily News reports that a jury in Brooklyn awarded the money to Amanda Velasquez on Thursday.

Velasquez was pregnant in 2011 and complained of blurred vision and pressure around her eyes during prenatal checkups at Woodhull Medical Center.

According to her lawsuit, doctors at Woodhull never diagnosed glaucoma. Velasquez eventually underwent surgery for the disease but she says she was 90 percent blind by then.

Velasquez’s attorney, Ralph DeSimone, said Woodhull staff members “were fixated on her pregnancy” and never looked at her eyes.

A spokesman for NYC Health and Hospitals, which oversees Woodhull, said it would appeal the verdict.

Information from: Daily News