Dentist Who Used Paper Clips in Treatment to be Sentenced
I've been litigating malpractice cases for almost 20 years, and I have to say that it doesn't get much worse than this: using a stainless steel paperclip in place of a stainless steel post during a root canal treatment. A dentist who admits that he made such appalling substitutions in the course of dental treatment, is set to be sentenced.
Last week, dentist Michael Clair pleaded guilty to a range of charges. He admits that he used part of a paperclip in place of stainless steel posts to support a root canal on a patient.
Besides dental negligence, Clair faces several other charges. According to investigators, he fraudulently billed Medicaid by performing dental procedures and having other dentists in his practice bill it to Medicaid. In all, he allegedly defrauded Medicaid of approximately $130,000 between August 2003 and June 2005. During this time, he had been prohibited from working on Medicaid patients.
The charges also included drug charges against him. He used to prescribe addictive painkillers like hydrocodone and Perocet to members of the staff. The staff would procure the medications and give some of them to him.
The case against him was built over a period of 4 years. Investigators first became alerted about his Medicaid fraud in 2005, and launched an investigation. Over 4 years, investigators compiled all patient records that were needed to develop a strong case against him. The case was presented before a grand jury. He entered a guilty plea, and is due to be sentenced next week .
Because of the multiple charges, Clair is likely to be sentenced to a lengthy prison sentence. The Medicaid fraud charges alone carry a possible maxim sentence of 5 years, while the illegal drug prescription charges carry a sentence of up to 10 years in prison.
Robert J. Fleming is an Atlanta dental malpractice lawyer, helping persons injured by the negligence of dentists, dental technicians and other dental professionals recover compensation for their injuries.
