Greg Tiemeier wore glasses all the way though law school. So when he first heard about radial keratotomy in the 1980s, he was intrigued. The surgical procedure promised to be able to correct his nearsightedness and that of many more people. Coincidentally, the University of Denver, Sturm College of Law graduate worked at a medical malpractice firm that defended one of the very first radial keratotomy trials in the country.
Greg got a chance to assist on that case and several that followed, and although they lost, Greg later became the first attorney in the nation to win a radial keratotomy case, successfully defending a doctor who’d been sued. The victory would launch Greg’s career, turning him into a sought-after expert, a frequent speaker and a popular attorney with eye surgeons. Although he spent several years handling real estate, intellectual property and securities fraud cases, Greg returned to medical malpractice defense, at a large Denver firm where he continued to represent physicians in all practice specialties in the courtroom — as trial work is his enduring passion.
“I developed a reputation for knowing how to successfully defend a malpractice case involving refractive surgery,” he says. “And when you get known for something, people start sending you that work.” Greg has now spoken more than 60 times at conferences and written or been quoted in more than two dozen papers or articles.
Today, Greg, who had refractive surgery from one of the doctors he defended, spends a little less time in the courtroom and a little more on his hobbies, like MMA-style fighting, and snowboarding — something he’s been doing for 35 years. A native of Wichita, Kansas, and a graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia, he also enjoys being in the mountains of Colorado, backpacking and camping.
