Blepharoplasty+Fat Graft = Disaster - Los Angeles, CA

Thank you for taking the time to write and for your good wishes. I appreciate your kindness and concern. Unfortunately, it's now close to a year since the surgery and my eye is still healing. Dr. Levine's surgery so disfigured me and I'm in so much pain, I never leave my house for anything. After 13 eye surgeries, I have given up all hope. I only posted to warn others against eye surgeries with Dr. Levine.

Thank you for your email and your support. I know that all those who recommend suing mean well, but they don't know what's involved. Suing is not an option for many reasons. In CA, there is a cap of $250,000. Finding a lawyer is impossible unless you're a head of household cut down in the prime of life or a public figure whose ability to earn a living is impaired or destroyed due to malpractice. Attorneys lose $ on malpractice suits, so the att'y. needs to make $ on loss of earnings. The medical malpractice insurance industry and drs. pushed this MICRA cap through in 1975 and it has not even been adjusted for cost of living! It has been enacted in most states. There are many articles about this, including newspapers, if you or anyone cares to research. Even if you should find a lawyer, they want you to front the costs. In L.A., just consulting a possible expert witness costs $2,000 - $3,000 and they charge approximately $1,000 an hr. to be in court. It takes 3+ years to go to trial. It is difficult to find expert witnesses in the same city because they close ranks. Expert witnesses need to have better credentials than the dr. you're alleging committed malpractice. Medical costs are often impossible to ascertain, unless you're so damaged you need full-time care. In my case, part of my face was paralyzed and I was disfigured over 6 years ago by Dr. Dennis Bang, a plastic surgeon who has injured several former patients I'm in contact with. I have undergone 13 eye surgeries. This surgery by Dr. Levine was necessitated by a prior reconstructive surgeon who left hidden embedded lashes at the corner junction. I never could have forseen what I would have gone through and accepted the fact I would not ever be close to whole, either functionally or aesthetically. The general population reads about huge monetary malpractice verdicts. What they don't realize is that unless loss of earnings is part of the equation, these big figure awards are cut down to each state's MICRA cap. If someone loses a baby or child, is a housewife or retiree, $250,000 max for pain and suffering... On top of all that, there is the emotional trauma of having to re-live it repeatedly through subpoenas, depositions, and court. My entire reason for posting was to make sure prospective patients take extra steps before choosing their drs., especially for elective plastic surgery. Medicine and legal remedires are no different than many other areas of American life that have been corrupted by greed, incompetence, and self-serving conspiracies of silence and cover-ups. I am hoping that my posting will serve as a warning and wake-up call to others.

Yes, I learn that years ago. Most people don't know about the justice system is protecting unethical doctors that do surgery without informed consent. I could have warned people any better than you. My eyes are aged over 40+ my real age. People can tell I had horrible eyelid surgery with dog ears, cuts, pleats, dent/divots, zig zag stitch marks, several huge stitch marks, smaller stitch marks, and cuts all over my eyelids, to the laternal and inner sides of both of my eyelids. That doc out in Orange County, Ca made pucker/pleats from above my forehead,eyebrows down to my eyelid creases. This shameless doctor even tried to defend himself by stating he never had any judgement against him. Thank so much for pointing out about suing to other people that read your review. It is a lesson that we only learnt about only after botched surgery with or without consent.

I thought the statute of limitations (for doctors) began and ended if and when the patient awakened? HIPA was created by doctors for doctors. The AMA is equivalent to the NRA. ETC!

!0 years ago, the $250,000. cap equalled over $500,000 since money's value doubles every 7 years. 10 years ago, lawyers didn't charge $500 hr. I saw or spoke to over 20 attorneys, sometimes with my ophthalmologist accompanying me -- God bless him. Medical malpractice also has nothing to do w/ class action lawsuits. These are separate areas, and if lawyers take PI or medical malpractice suits, they are looking for loss of income or else they lose $. I don't want to argue w/ someone who is so obviously sympathetic and my experience is not everyone's, but every single time I heard the same refrain about it costing them too much time and the fact they lost $ on these cases due to the insurance cap. One lawyer told me, "I'd rather go to Las Vegas and lose money shooting Craps." The only person I know who found a lawyer for medical malpractice and won, had to eventually agree to drop her lawsuit and switch to arbitration because it was "quicker." Contrary to mandated regulations, her arbitration verdict does not even show up on his records, and he has injured others. All I can conclude is that you were lucky to find a lawyer and I'm happy that you won. I hope you're now as whole as possible and well.

My uncle sued for medical malpractice and won. The surgeon left a surgical instrument inside his leg. It eventually caused a staph infection and the leg had to be amputated.

Thank you for take the time to respond. Yes, I should, but lawsuits difficult, especially w/ plastic surgery -- almost impossible.

not in your case. i read about this woman who had a botched blepharoplasty that left her with eye that were unable to close all the way. the courts awarded her 112k. if you have "incomplete closure"and can establish the damages from your surgeries, and put a big price ticket on those costs/ harms, then i'm sure you can find a lawyer willing to take you case. plus, when you sue a surgeon, he's wont end up paying for damages out of his pocket. his insurance company will. so really, surgeons dont care if you sue them because it doesn't cost them anything, it just makes them look bad. here's the article about the woman http://www.today.com/id/42374009/ns/today-today_health/t/woman-cant-close-her-eyes-after-plastic-surgery/#.UU7Gm7u3AlY

after reading everything you write, i think you have legitimate grounds for a lawsuit: if you had 11 surgeries... the costs for those alone would be really significant (and enough to get a contingency lawyer's attention.) and if you have paralysis and corneal damage... those are irreversible damages that were directly caused by the negligence of your surgeon. and if he injected/ removed fat without your consent that is malpractice because he deviated from the terms of the surgical agreement.