"I couldn't really see, I had double vision. I saw halos and starbursts around light. And everything was dimmer. It was blurry."
Lori Dilio
Case Results
Menu
Dilio v. Jang and Lexington Eye Institute, et al
Lori Dilio was attracted to LASIK surgery because it presented an opportunity to get rid of her glasses. She enjoyed physical activities such as skiing and swimming where glasses were an inconvenience. Advertising by a Canadian LASIK clinic convinced her the surgery would be a positive move. She went to a clinic near her Bellevue, Washington, home for her pre-surgery exam. Dilio traveled to Surrey, British Columbia, for her operation and surgery was performed on February 11, 2000. She immediately realized she had decreased vision and could not focus her eyes. “I couldn’t really see,” she says. “I had double vision. I saw halos and starbursts around light. And everything was dimmer. It was blurry.”
Fearing for her future, Dilio sought legal counsel.
Fearing for her future, Dilio sought legal counsel. “I didn’t want to look back someday and think there was something else I could have done,” she says. “I wanted to hold the doctors accountable. I wanted to say to the doctors, ‘This is what you’ve done to me. This is what your lousy follow-up has come to.’” Dilio hired Greg Zeuthen and Larry Baron. “They were tenacious,” Dilio says of her attorneys. “They were unstoppable in their research — they wanted to learn everything about my situation, about my condition. There was no stone left unturned. Every idea was pursued. They looked everywhere for answers.” The evidence the attorneys gathered demonstrated clearly the mistakes made by Dilio’s doctors. There were many: mismeasured pupils, a decentered flap, decentered ablations, and a failure to remove striae (or wrinkles).
Trial and case results
The trial began in November 2002 at the Justice Center in Kent, Washington. Arguments had proceeded for two weeks, and Zeuthen and Baron had nearly completed his presentation of the Dilio case when the case settled. Dilio left the courtroom with a lasting appreciation for the work put in by her attorneys.
Reaching a settlement gave Dilio the closure she needed to move on with her life. Prior to the operation, she successfully operated a small wedding cake business out of her home. Today, she and her husband Michael operate a real estate appraisal business from their home. She also home schools her three children.