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New York ruling barring punctal occlusion overturned
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ALBANY, N.Y. — The Appellate Court of New York State Supreme Court has reversed a lower court opinion that had barred optometrists from performing three procedures on the grounds that they are “invasive.”
The original ruling on Kennedy v. Novello had been rendered last year by Justice Joseph Cannizzarro. It stated that closure of the lacrimal punctum by plug, probing of the nasolacrimal duct with or without irrigation and probing of the lacrimal canaliculi are outside the optometric scope of practice.
Origin of Kennedy v. Novello
This ruling was prompted by a lawsuit filed against the Health and Education departments by Schenectady-based ophthalmologist Robert Kennedy, MD. The lawsuit raised objections to determinations made by these departments that permitted optometrists to perform certain diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. The findings by the two departments followed the legislative expansion of the optometric scope of practice in 1995.
The New York State Optometric Association (NYSOA) then intervened on behalf of an optometrist, Jeffrey Cooper, OD, and other members of the NYSOA, according to legal counsel James W. Lytle. Despite these efforts, the court ruled in favor of the ophthalmologist, Mr. Lytle said.
In November 2002, the Appellate Division unanimously reversed the opinion, granted a motion for summary judgment and dismissed the complaint, Mr. Lytle said.
The court found that Dr. Kennedy lacked standing to bring a citizen taxpayer against the State Departments of Education and Health. The court ruled that the ophthalmologists were “challenging the state’s nonfiscal determination that the procedures in question fell within the practice of optometry,” which rendered the matter an inappropriate one to be brought as a taxpayer action.
“In addition, the court dismissed the complaint on its merits,” Mr. Lytle said. “The court determined that optometric evidence contradicted the positions taken by the ophthalmological experts, thereby creating a clash of expert opinions that the state agencies properly decided in favor of optometry.”
For Your Information:
- James W. Lytle can be reached at 121 State St. 3rd Floor, Albany, NY 12207 (518) 432-5990; fax: (518) 432-5996; e-mail: jlytle1675@aol.com.