Criminal defense lawyer who has low vision due to diabetic retinopathy

I am a 63 year old criminal defense lawyer who has low vision due to

diabetic retinopathy. I have no vision in my left eye and on a good day the vision

in my right eye is 20/400.

Approximately seven years ago I awoke and I could not see out of my left

eye. Incredibly, I did not rush to an eye doctor but rather assumed this was some

type of temporary thing that would go away in a day or two. Did I mention that I

am not a doctor of any type? Did I mention that sometimes I can be remarkably

stupid?

Three days later I finally went to my ophthalmologist who had been

prescribing my glasses for years. Very shortly into his exam he left the room and

called a retinal specialist who agreed to see me right now. I went to his office and

was diagnosed with a central artery occlusion. I was examined by his partner the

next day who confirmed the diagnosis and that it meant I was not going to have

vision in that eye again. Oh, by the way, did I tell you that at the time I was a

smoker? Not a heavy smoker, less than a pack a day. So, of course, I stopped

smoking immediately, yes? Well actually, no. Go back to the part about

incredible stupidity.

I was in a very high stress occupation. I tried cases all the time and also did

appeals. Most of my cases were murder cases and some were very high profile. I

decided that smoking reduced my stress levels and besides, I had lost vision in

one eye. Surely I was not going to be the one who lost vision in both eyes. Wrong

again.

Let’s flash forward another year. I was living in New York at the time and I

was trying a murder case in Virginia. As the trial ended I was having problems

seeing from my right eye. By the next day I could not drive and my vision was

severely impaired. You will be happy to know that at this point I stopped

smoking. Nothing like closing the barn door and the horse has left, right?

I found a retinal surgeon who treated me for the next five years including 6

eye surgeries and more laser treatments than I care to think about. And let’s not

forget all the injections into eye. I am telling you, you have not lived until you

have had stitches in your eye.

Why am I writing this? Because I did not take care of myself and I thought

that this stuff always happens to someone else. It would never happen to me. It

is one thing to know what you are supposed to do but I want people to

understand that this can happen to you. Take care of yourself and make sure you

treat your eyes like the treasures they are. Don’t be stupid!

Dick Barbuto

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