Mrs Whitaker agreed to a cornea graft in 1984 to restore sight in an eye injured in childhood.

Even though the doctor was found not to be negligent, Mrs Whitaker, now 72, developed sympathetic ophthalmia in her left eye, leaving her blind.

"I was not given any indication of the risk,'' she said.

Mrs Whitaker described a medical profession that was defined at the time by profitable patient numbers and breathtaking arrogance.

With strong family support and a keen sense of justice, Mrs Whitaker took her fight to the High Court where she won a substantial settlement in 1992 after the court agreed the doctor had failed to give her the appropriate warnings about the risks.

Today Mrs Whitaker says the huge financial and personal cost of such action is justified if people really want to seek change.

"You don't need a lobby group behind you, you just need to get really mad,'' she said. "You fight for everyone who is vulnerable.

"People need to ask questions and not be treated as gullible.''

Mrs Whitaker's case changed duty-of-disclosure laws and was recently featured in Australian Doctor magazine as one of the most historically significant medico-legal cases ever.

These days doctors are legally obliged to tell patients of the risks they face in surgery.

Mrs Whitaker's fight didn't stop after her win.

In 1999 she took on the Australian Tax Office to exempt people awarded damages in compensation claims from paying tax on interest. The Government amended income tax law in what she described at the time as a "fair and proper way to go''.

"I used to think when I grew old I'd be looking after my husband, but he ended up looking after me,'' she said.