Woman must travel to two hospitals for eye care

February 24, 2010

In a bizarre diagnosis, a 79-year-old woman had to be treated at two different hospitals that were 30 miles apart from each other.

When Mavis Eldridge arrived at University Hospital in Coventry, England, to receive treatment for age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in her right eye, she was given the drug Lucentis. However, according to the Daily Mail, when she began experiencing similar symptoms in her left eye, she was told she would have to go to another hospital 30 miles away.

Doctors told Eldridge they were too busy to care for both eyes, even though the treatment would only take a couple seconds. Eldridge was in shock, as it is common that individuals experience AMD in both of their eyes.

"It is well known if you get macular degeneration in one eye you very often get it in the other too," Eldridge told the Mail. "So why can't they treat both?"

Because Eldridge has lost some of her vision, she was not able to make the trip to another facility, calling upon her daughter to drive 85 miles to take her to another hospital for treatment in her right eye.

According to the American Optometric Association, AMD is the leading cause of vision loss in adults over 50 years old.