A 64-year-old woman died after an Indian dentist in Connecticut, US attempted to extract 20 teeth from her mouth in a single sitting.
Judith Gan was undergoing dental bone grafting procedure on 17 February with Dr. Rashmi Patel, who holds a history of malpractices. The patient with prior health issues lost consciousness during the procedure and died, New York Daily News reported.
The assistant of the doctor requested him to hault the procedure, before calling the emergency services as the patient lost consciousness. The procedure included placing implants in the woman's mouth after removing the teeth, but it was too late for the call.
He "wanted to complete the placement of implants" as "the assistant begged (Patel) to stop working, and finally ran out and called 911, but the patient had already flat-lined," wrote the state Department of Public Health, in a report, according to the Courant.
The dentist's license issued in 2003 was suspended in 21 April 2014 and has a pending hearing for 18 June 2014 before the Connecticut State Dental Commission. The dentist runs two clinics in Torrington and Enfield.
However, this is not the first time Patel is facing legal consequences. A former employee of Patel had sued him earlier in 2009, after he performed careless dental procedure on Doreen Jasonis. In 2011, she won close to $500,000 from a jury, but the ruling was appealed against, and concluded with an out-of-court settlement.
"The four count petition found, among an array of other misdeeds, that Patel deviated from standard of care in that he did not timely and/or properly respond to (Gan's) oxygen desaturation and/or respiratory distress and/or cardio-pulmonary distress," according to state records, reported New York Daily News.
Patel denies all allegations of sub-standard care against him, according to his lawyer, Michael Kogut of Springfield, Mass, reported Courant. The dentist has sought to fight for the charges against him. In the meantime his clinics in Torrington and Enfield remain open.
"(Patel) is highly skilled and respected in the field of sedation dentistry. The record is clear that these allegations and what has been reported are not founded in accuracy or fact, even to the point that this arbitrary action was taken against Dr. Patel before the cause of death was determined. The Department of Public Health has again acted outside its limitations." said Kogut.
Gan's cause of death officially requires further studies. But a Hamden dentist, who was asked to review the case on behalf of the Department of Health, found that the lady did not have to sacrifice her life in order to receive this kind of dental treatment. Patel is the sole responsible person for whose negligence the lady died, reported WFSB-TV.
