Q. Re- last answer (1901) that eye ailments can be considered life threatening. Does one recite the hagomel bracha after an eye cataract operation?
A. Horav Shlomo Miller’s Shlit’a opinion is that a common cataract operation is in our days a rather simple and fast medical intervention. It usually takes only about one half an hour and the patient goes home immediately. Therefore, no hagomel should be recited, unless there are other complications such as advanced age or chronic ailments that create an added significant danger. However, if someone else is reciting the brocho, one may ask that person to be motze and include him in his blessing.
However, the Rov stressed that other significant eye operations, as explained in the previous question, qualify as danger of life and may qualify for hagomel recitation.
Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by Horav Shlomo Miller Shlit’a
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