Dentist Investigated for Death of Second Child During Procedure
Officers are investigating a dentist, after a 2nd child died while undergoing a procedure under his care.
This child, a 3-year-old boy, was undergoing a routine dental procedure at the dentist's office. He was under anesthesia, and had been restrained in a papoose. According to the child's mother, during the procedure, the boy suddenly went limp, and stopped breathing. His lips became blue, and he was then rushed to hospital. However, he was pronounced dead on arrival.
The dentist had been suspended by the Board of Dentistry after the death of a 6-year-old child who also died while in his care. He was placed under probation after the suspension. In that case too, the child had been restrained in a papoose, and was under local anesthesia during the procedure. That child also stopped breathing during the procedure. However, a medical examiner ruled that the child died due to natural causes, because the child suffered from cerebral palsy and several other medical conditions.
However, the Board of Dentistry investigated the dentist, and filed a complaint against him in 2008. In 2010, an administrative law judge found that he was not guilty of gross negligence, but the dentist was suspended for a period of 3 months in January 2011. He was then placed on an additional 21 months of probation.
Investigators looking at this latest child's death have not yet arrived at the cause of the death. So far, it seems that the procedure that was being performed on the boy was routine, and that there was no sign that anything was wrong before complications arose. Meanwhile, lawyers for both families who lost children in the dentist’s care are asking that the dentist's license be revoked.
Robert Fleming is an Atlanta dental malpractice lawyer, representing persons who have been injured due to the negligence of dentists, dental technicians and other dental professionals across the metro Atlanta region.
