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Warning! Danger!
Duty to warn is an ECP obligation, and a pathway to selling sensibly and successfully
By Karlen McLean, ABOC, NCLC

While this definition specifies product manufacturers as the typical duty to warn source, in the optical industry eyecare professionals have the responsibility to inform patients about the potential dangers of frames, spectacle lenses, and contact lenses.

At first glance, damage-related lawsuits in optical appear to be rare. This is because the majority of these lawsuits are settled out of court, so information about them is closed. Without tangible judgments, some optical retailers don't think they have to worry.

But the fact is, you just don't know how many lawsuits there are, and how much the settlements were. Making duty to warn an everyday part of your practice can help keep you out of court, serve the public, and encourage informed patient purchasing.

MYTH: IMPLEMENTING DUTY TO WARN IS TIME CONSUMING

There are essentially two steps to duty to warn: Getting started and implementation. First, obtain materials from industry sources. Then review the materials with staff. Script conversations with patients and discuss possibilities from every angle to raise staff comfort level. Finally, commit to discussing duty to warn issues and using duty to warn forms with every patient.

MYTH: DUTY TO WARN SLOWS WORK FLOW

Duty to warn is essentially telling patients about lens options by focusing on the importance of vision safety first and lens design second. Telling patients about their lens material options in simple terms—"standard plastic is safe, but high-impact plastic is better for your active lifestyle, plus it's thinner and lighter weight"—can be done in a sentence or two. Obtaining descriptive literature from industry sources or creating your own lens flyer provides extra information.

Once patients select their lens material, then discuss lens designs and usage, such as PALs and polarized lenses. These steps are part of everyday dispensing and prioritize visual safety and protection. 

MYTH: DUTY TO WARN IS A SELLING SCARE TACTIC

When you go to your physician and she or he prescribes a medication, you'll often be given specific instructions. Your pharmacist also provides written and verbal warnings.

When writing a prescription, the doctor should prescribe spectacle lens solutions for patient lifestyle with explanations of his or her recommendations.

For example: "I'm prescribing polycarbonate/Trivex lenses for your eyewear and sunwear, since you lead an active lifestyle and these lenses offer superior impact-resistance performance over ordinary lenses. Our optician can tell you more, let's go over and see him."

That's not selling. That's prescribing the best solution for your patient's visual acuity and safety.

In the dispensary, optician and patient can discuss why poly/Trivex lenses are better than other lens materials for safety. If the patient still opts to not get poly/Trivex, the patient signs a form (see sidebar).

MYTH: DUTY TO WARN WON'T REALLY PROTECT ME FROM LITIGATION

ECPs have a legal responsibility to inform patients about the proper use of eyewear and eye safety issues. Steps need to be taken to give patients direction and warning on how to use a product properly. If these steps are taken, the seller can reasonably assume that the buyer listened, read, understood, and agreed.

Making eyewear properly and fitting and adjusting eyewear correctly aren't enough. Failure to make consumers aware of proper use and
safety issues can lead to adverse court judgments.

Simply, duty to warn is good business practice. Overlooking duty to warn is taking an unnecessary business risk.