The parents of deceased Pennsylvania police officer Ryan Kingerski said he died by suicide months after having LASIK eye surgery
They claimed he experienced headaches, extreme sensitivity, double vision and saw dark spots and that the surgery left him unable to work
In a statement to news outlets, LASIKPlus said that “there is no clinical evidence linking suicide to LASIK eye surgery”
A Pennsylvania cop is dead after his parents claim he struggled for months with serious complications from LASIK eye surgery.
At the beginning of the year, the Penn Hills Police Department announced “the sudden passing” of officer Ryan Kingerski, who died on Jan. 25 at 26 years old.
Now, his parents, Tim and Stefanie Kingerski, are alleging that he died by suicide about five months after he underwent LASIK eye surgery, according to CBS News, WTAE-TV and WPXI-TV.
Per the outlets, Ryan had taken some time off in August in order to have the elective eye procedure and expected to be back in uniform a few days later. However, “it ruined his life. Ruined it. Completely ruined his life in 12 seconds,” Tim told WTAE.
Soxman Funeral Homes
A photo of Ryan J. Kingerski.
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Following Ryan’s LASIK surgery, his parents claimed that their son started experiencing debilitating complications that affected his daily life, including headaches and extreme sensitivity. He would also see floaters, dark spots and had double vision.
“He kept saying how bad the pain in his head was,” Tim and Stefanie told CBS News. “He had a terrible headache and wasn’t able to focus, and the vision and the blurriness and everything else — and that just continued.”
His parents said that due to the side effects, Ryan was unable to return to his work as a police officer, per WTAE. They said they went to several specialists to see if there was something that could be done to ease his pain and discomfort. However, it was “one disappointment after another.”
Penn Hills Police Department/Facebook
A photo of a Penn Hills Police Department vehicle
His parents said that Ryan killed himself in January after being unable to find any relief from the side effects that resulted from the LASIK eye surgery. Tim told CBS News, “He left us a note that said, ‘I can’t take this anymore. LASIK took everything from me.’ That’s the note that we got left.”
PEOPLE has reached out to LASIKPlus for comment about the incident.
In a statement to CBS News, LASIKPlus said, “Legal requirements prevent us from speaking to the specifics of any patient, but suicide generally cannot be reduced to any single cause. To be clear, there is no clinical evidence linking suicide to LASIK eye surgery.”
The company also told the outlet when asked about its potential risks that each patient is “provided with a copy of the informed consent form at the pre-operative appointment for review,” which contains “recognized risks, benefits and alternatives of the proposed procedure.”
The American Refractive Surgery Council said that based on their research about 96% of people who got LASIK were satisfied and that “serious sight-threatening LASIK complications are extremely rare, occurring in less than 1% of procedures.”
“People are going to watch this and say it’s mental health. This wasn’t mental health,” Tim told CBS News. “It had nothing to do with mental health, so they are free to judge and say whatever they want to say. I know that my son before his surgery and after his surgery were two completely different people.”
Ryan’s father said that he will remember his son as “just vibrant and full of life. He loved to do stuff with family, friends.”
The Penn Hills Police Department added that Ryan was someone who “served with unwavering commitment and professionalism, always putting the safety and well-being of our community first.”
If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health challenges, emotional distress, substance use problems, or just needs to talk, call or text 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org 24/7.
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