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The surgeries performed by TLC LASIK Centers led to debilitating eye conditions in those patients, according to the suit filed in federal court in Greenville.
Attorneys for John Hollman, a Bluffton High School teacher and wrestling coach, seek damages of up to $180 million on behalf of patients who they say suffered as a result of surgery that should never have been performed.
Hollman said Thursday he had pre-operative conditions that should have made him ineligible to get LASIK, the elective surgery that uses a laser to re-shape the cornea and restore vision.
Following his first surgery in 1999, Hollman developed ectasia, a condition that leads to vision loss. Medical experts have said Hollman will need several cornea transplants as his eyes deteriorate, he said.
"I'll be in costly treatments for life," he said.
He said his vision problems have led to other health issues, including regular headaches and nausea.
"There's no way it can't affect you in every aspect of your life," he said.
Damages for Hollman, including lifetime medical expenses, are at least $1 million, his attorney said Thursday.
TLC LASIK spokesman Jim Hyland declined comment on the suit, citing corporate policy regarding pending litigation.
In addition to the federal suit filed in Greenville, Hollman also has a pending 2006 state suit against the surgeon who operated on him and the facilities where his three eye surgeries were performed, according to his Greenville attorney, Stephen Lewis.
Lewis, who is handling both cases, said a patient database -- maintained by TLC LASIKand released during discovery for the state case -- prompted his client to pursue the class-action suit.
The database, which dates back to at least 2003, contains the names of at least 181 people who shouldn't have gotten eye surgery, Lewis said.
"We think the class population will be in the hundreds, if not more," he said.
The suit also alleges:
• Hollman's doctors knew he was ineligible for treatment.
• The doctors failed to tell him about and treat his surgery-induced condition until it was too late for him to file a claim.
• Doctors intentionally canceled and rescheduled his procedures until it was too late for him to file a claim.
• TLC LASIK maintained the patient database in order to track dates when patients' rights to file litigation would expire. The database allowed the defendants to "freely monitor, control and delay without patients' knowledge," according to the suit.
"All actions by the defendants were designed to hide the patients' true condition and to manage the patients' expectations until that patient no longer posed a risk to the defendants' assets" because the deadline to file a claim had expired, the suit says.
Lewis said it could be several months before a federal judge decides whether to "certify the class" and accept the case.
TLC LASIK Centers' parent company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December and is still reorganizing, Lewis said.
He said the company might try to "disallow" medical malpractice claims as part of the debt restructuring.
