Precedent-setting professional liability claims involving optometry

For optometrists, malpractice claims are relatively rare and seldom result in litigation. Therefore, there are very few reported court cases dealing with the optometric malpractice issue. In fact, within the last ten years there have been only five reported cases. Claims involving failure to diagnose have been the most devastating to optometrists, and have resulted in the five recently reported court cases. This paper discusses the facts of these five cases and considers their relevance to contemporary optometric practice.