An optometrist has been reprimanded after failing to notice a cancerous melanoma in one of his clients' eyes.
Deputy Health and Disability Commissioner Dr Vanessa Caldwell found the optometrist had not properly investigated a lesion on the woman's eye.
The client shared her concerns about a growth on her eye throughout multiple appointments with her optometrist.
"The optometrist fell short of several standards when he provided care to this consumer," Caldwell said.
"In particular, he failed to identify and manage her lesion appropriately."
The melanoma was not identified until more than a year after her first appointment, when the woman's eye started bleeding and she was rushed to the emergency department.
"Her eye was bleeding and she was unable to open it without pain, and she had vision changes," the report said.
Three months later, "[she] underwent further surgery to remove the melanoma and to reconstruct her eye. The procedure went well".
But Caldwell said the optometrist should have noticed the problem much earlier, and that he had breached the Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers' Rights by failing to do so.
In particular, the optometrist had not kept appropriate documentation about the woman and her condition, she said.
"It is important to maintain a high standard of documentation and, in this case, the lack of detailed documentation meant the size and significance of the melanoma's growth was not tracked accurately," Caldwell said.
The optometrist has been asked to provide a written apology to his client and undertake further training on documenting and identifying anomalies.
The clinic itself has since updated its record-keeping system and provided professional development training for its staff.
RNZ.
