Table 1.

Ocular oncology cases by year, state, method of resolution, and monetary award

Case	Year	State	Court	Means of resolution	Verdict	Award or indemnity, USD	Award adjustment to 2015 USD	Intervention or legal allegation	Diagnosis and summary
1	1971	MT	State supreme	Appellate ruling	Defendant			Non-interventional	Iris/ciliary body melanoma. Plaintiff alleged that enucleation resulted from failure to promptly diagnose iris/ciliary body melanoma in spite of iris color change
2	1984	NY	State district	Settlement	Plaintiff	550,000.00	1,261,538.02	Non-interventional	Sebaceous cell carcinoma. Plaintiff alleged that enucleation and metastatic spread of sebaceous carcinoma to the head and neck could have been avoided if patient had been urged to undergo biopsy for recurrent chalazion
3	1987	FL	State district	Jury verdict	Plaintiff	400,000.00	839,140.85	Non-interventional	Orbital tumor. Plaintiff alleged failure to diagnose orbital tumor during lifetime follow-up for patient with “eye cancer” as a child
4	1987	PA	State district	Post-trial relief	Defendant			Non-interventional	Retinoblastoma. Plaintiffs alleged failure to diagnose retinoblastoma resulting in enucleation
5	1989	FL	State district	Jury verdict	Plaintiff	100,000.00	192,190.32	Non-interventional	Intracranial tumor. Patient alleged blindness following misdiagnosis of intracranial tumor as glaucoma for 2 years resulting in loss of vision in one eye and possible recurrence after removal
6	1989	NY	State district	Settlement	Plaintiff	425,000.00	816,808.87	Non-interventional	Sebaceous cell carcinoma. Plaintiff alleged that failure to diagnose sebaceous cell carcinoma for 6 years resulted in enucleation
7	1990	CA	State district	Settlement	Plaintiff	224,000.00	408,437.52	Non-interventional	Choroidal melanoma. Plaintiff alleged failure to diagnose choroidal melanoma, promptly resulting in metastatic spread to plaintiff's liver
8	1991	PA	State district	Jury verdict	Defendant			Non-interventional	Parotid gland malignancy. Plaintiff alleged that failure to diagnose malignant parotid gland tumor caused decreased quality and length of life
9	1992	DC	State appeals	Appellate ruling	Plaintiff			Non-interventional	Lacrimal gland adenocarcinoma. Plaintiff alleged loss of vision due to failure to diagnose lacrimal gland adenocarcinoma
10	1992	MA	State district	Jury verdict	Defendant			Surgical/procedural	Basal cell carcinoma. Plaintiff alleged that failure to diagnose basal cell carcinoma in the lateral canthus required surgery that resulted in blindness
11	1994	NY	State district	Jury verdict	Defendant			Surgical/procedural	Orbital tumor. Plaintiff alleged that removal of excessive tissue during orbital tumor removal resulted in loss of vision
12	2005	NY	State district	Jury verdict	Defendant			Non-interventional	Choroidal melanoma. Plaintiff alleged that failure to perform dilated exam resulted in death secondary to failure to diagnose ocular melanoma
13	2005	AL	State district	Jury verdict	Defendant			Non-interventional	Choroidal melanoma. Plaintiff alleged that failure to diagnose choroidal melanoma resulted in enucleation
14	2005	MI	State district	Jury verdict	Defendant			Surgical/procedural	Optic nerve astrocytosis. Plaintiff alleged that misdiagnosis of optic nerve astrocytosis as an optic nerve glioma resulted in removal of optic nerve and blindness
15	2006	MI	State district	Jury verdict	Plaintiff	425,000.00	502,402.28	Non-interventional	Retinoblastoma. Plaintiff alleged that failure to diagnose retinoblastoma resulted in enucleation
16	2013	MA	State district	Jury verdict	Defendant			Non-interventional	Choroidal melanoma. Plaintiff alleged that misdiagnosis of choroidal melanoma as benign nevus resulted in death secondary to metastatic spread of melanoma