Botched Prison Surgery Costs Oregon $1M in Settlement After Inmate Loses Sight in One Eye

The State of Oregon has agreed to pay $1 million for medical negligence to prisoner Jabbar Al-Khafagi who went blind in one eye after a ‘botched’ surgery, and a further $200,060 to the law firm that represented him.

Al-Khafagi is 70 years old and serving a 16-year prison sentence in the Oregon State Correctional Institution in Salem on charges of solicitation to commit aggravated murder, conspiracy to commit aggravated murder, and attempted aggravated murder. He is only due for release at the earliest in November 2029.

In 2019, Al-Khafagi filed a federal lawsuit against the Corrections Department, alleging that his constitutional rights were violated by subjecting him to cruel and unusual punishment.

A Department of Corrections spokesperson said Al-Khafagi lost vision in his left eye due to a complication after a cataract operation off-site that was performed by Dr. Charles Sung, who was hired by the department.

His attorney, Heather Van Meter, said in a statement that her client ‘suffered repeated eye infections’ after a ‘botched surgery that damaged his eye causing multiple detached retinas, until it slowly, painfully, died inside his head.’

Another of his lawyers, Sophia von Bergen, said her client had full use of both of his eyes when he entered the penitentiary in 2014

Health Care Crisis in Oregon Corrections Department

The $1.2 million settlement was finalized today (Friday) and follows a healthcare crisis in the Oregon Corrections Department.

Earlier this month, both the chief medical officer, Dr. Warren Roberts, and his boss, the assistant director of health services Joe Bugher, were fired after they were criticized for the healthcare management of the state’s 12,000 prisoners.

In 2024, the state paid $3.5 million to the family of an inmate at the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem who died when his heart attack symptoms were left untreated.