Helling v. Carey

Helling (plaintiff) had primary open-angle glaucoma, detectable by a simple eye-pressure test. Her ophthalmologists, Drs. Carey and Laughlin (defendants), saw her for years for glasses and contacts and attributed her symptoms to contact-lens irritation without testing her eye pressure. She was eventually diagnosed with glaucoma at 32 and suffered permanent vision loss. She sued for negligence. Medical custom did not call for routine pressure testing of patients under 40.

Whether doctors are insulated from liability by complying with the standards of their medical specialty.