Man Says Ozempic Stole His Sight in Both Eyes and He Wants You to Know

A Life Turned Dark, One Eye at a Time

On New Year's Eve 2024, Todd Engel had just gotten out of the shower and was getting ready for work when he told his wife, Shelley, that he couldn't see in his right eye — that it was "totally black," totally dark. The 63-year-old retired truck driver from Maryland had been prescribed Ozempic to treat his diabetes back in 2023. What followed over the next year would cost him everything he could see.

About ten months after losing vision in his right eye, Engel experienced vision loss in his left eye as well, leaving him completely blind. Doctors confirmed there was no medication or surgical procedure that could restore his sight. In his own words: "I didn't go blind — I had my vision taken from me, which was catastrophic to me and to my family."

What Is NAION — and Why Didn't Anyone Warn Him?

Approximately four months after starting the medication, Engel was diagnosed with NAION — nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy. The condition, in which reduced blood flow damages the optic nerve, can cause sudden and permanent vision loss. He was referred for further testing at Johns Hopkins' Wilmer Eye Institute, where he was told he had suffered an "eye stroke." Despite normal blood work and blood pressure, the loss of vision in his right eye was irreversible.

Engel continued taking Ozempic because, according to the family's account, neither he nor his doctors knew of a possible association between semaglutide and NAION. That gap in knowledge is now at the center of a major legal battle. Engel has filed a lawsuit against Novo Nordisk, the Denmark-based manufacturer of Ozempic, alleging that the company failed to adequately warn patients and doctors about the potential risk of vision loss.

A Regulatory Divide Between the U.S. and Europe

In 2025, European regulators concluded that NAION is a very rare side effect of semaglutide — the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy — and moved to add it to product information. As of October 2026, the FDA has not listed NAION as a warning for Ozempic, while Novo Nordisk has updated its European labels to state that semaglutide may cause NAION in up to 1 in 10,000 people. That transatlantic gap is precisely what Engel's legal team is targeting.

A 2024 study involving more than 400,000 patients in the Netherlands found that people with Type 2 diabetes who used semaglutide had more than double the risk of developing NAION compared to those who didn't take the drug. Still, the legal question before the courts hinges in part on whether the GLP-1 drugs actually caused the harm. Observational data can show correlation — that people taking GLP-1s were perhaps more likely to have this eye complication occur — but not causation. For that, more detailed investigation is needed.

A Warning From the Man Who Lost Everything

Engel, a former heavy equipment operator and truck driver, has lost his career and now struggles with everyday activities, relying on his family and a white cane for navigation. His four grandchildren often guide him during family gatherings. He and his wife are now speaking publicly, determined to make sure other patients know what they say they were never told.

As of October 2026, more Ozempic blindness lawsuits have been filed in federal court, with nearly 250 cases now active in the MDL. Novo Nordisk has said it found no NAION safety signal in its randomized clinical trials and called the lawsuits "without merit." But for millions of Americans currently taking GLP-1 medications, Engel's story raises an urgent question: should patients be able to weigh a risk that regulators in other countries have already deemed real enough to label? That question may ultimately be answered in court — but for Todd Engel, the answer came far too late.