LASIK surgeon association awarded $2.1 million from surgery center chain

HOUSTON — A group of LASIK surgeons was awarded $2.1 million from a national chain of laser centers by a commercial arbitrator, according to a press release issued by the group’s law firm.

The surgeon group, American Laser Vision, had claimed that The Laser Vision Institute (LVI) interfered with the “care or treatment of patients” at their laser facilities.

The American Laser surgeons, who operated laser centers in Texas and Oklahoma, entered agreements with LVI in 2002 to provide board-certified ophthalmologists to perform laser surgeries, while LVI would manage the day-to-day nonmedical operations of the centers. In October 2003, American Laser claimed that LVI interfered with patient management and the surgeons’ professional judgments. Specifically, the lawsuit claimed that “LVI employees understated the chance that a patient would need follow-up surgery to address problems and used non-refundable deposits in an effort to coerce patients into buying the laser surgery,” the press release said. The association also claimed LVI interfered with surgical protocol by changing surgical supplies without notifying the doctors, changing prescriptions without the physicians’ permission or notification, altering postop care requirements and interfering with sterile surgical techniques, the release said.

The arbitrator’s award was made after a hearing in Dallas in early August.