PB Post: Hall of Famer Jim Palmer awarded $890,000 for eye damage

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On Monday, a Palm Beach County jury agreed the former Baltimore Orioles pitching great deserved $890,000 for the fear, pain and lost income he sustained after being forced to undergo the operation his attorney insisted was completely avoidable.

Had Dr. Tom Coffman better monitored Palmer’s care after he had a cataract removed and an artificial lens implanted in his left eye, the part-time Palm Beach resident’s retina would never have become detached, attorney Gary Cohen argued throughout the two-week-long trial that ended with a surprise charge of jury misconduct. Further, he said, Coffman should have never implanted the controversial multifocal intraocular lens in Palmer’s eye in the first place.

...“I’m no different than anyone else,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re in the Hall of Fame or not. It changes your life.” He said he hopes others will learn from his experience.

“I had tremendous trust for doctors and I think some of that trust was violated,” he said. “Maybe this will open up some eyes.” For his part, Coffman described the verdict as “unfortunate.” “I’ve always provided the highest quality of care to patients for the last 35 years and that’s not going to change,” said Coffman, a Manalapan town commissioner who has operated some 20 eye clinics in South Florida.