Eye care professional rude to patient

November 20, 2009

CBS news has reported that an eye doctor faces losing his medical license after he reportedly told a patient that she was fat and then chastised her for being unemployed.

The eye care professional, Dr. Earl Sunderhaus of Asheville, North Carolina, later admitted that he told the said her thighs were fat and cited her as at risk for diabetes.

That type of behavior probably won't inspire repeat business – but eye care professionals should be encouraging patients to return for frequent eye exams and vision screenings.

According to the American Optometric Association, patients should visit their eye care professional on a regular basis to check for eye health problems like Glaucoma, Cataracts and Advanced Macular Degeneration.

Some experts are particularly concerned about proposed health care reforms which might make it more difficult for patients to obtain health insurance coverage that includes eye care.

In a joint letter to the senate last month, the AOA and the VSP vision care said that health care reforms which suggest stand-alone coverage for eye care "turn back the clock by continuing to segment vision from eye health," and said such plans are "seeking to impose misguided limits on the care that our patients, especially children, receive," visionmonday.com reports.