Girl, 3 Who Suffered Massive Brain Injuries During Dental Surgery Dies

When we take our kids to the dentist for a procedure we have a right to expect high standards of care. Sadly, dentists don’t always meet our expectations. I was shocked to read about a recent case about a 3-year-old girl from Hawaii who suffered massive brain injuries after a procedure that went badly wrong.

The girl has died about a month after the dental procedure, msn.com reported.

The girl’s family has filed a lawsuit against dentist Lilly Geyer and Island Dentistry for Children in Honolulu, “alleging that the child was given incorrect dosages of sedatives and that the hospital staff was not properly trained for emergencies,” the channel reported.

When Ashley Boyle took her young daughter to Island Dentistry in early December for extensive dental work, which the family states in court documents was recommended by the dentist, they had no idea of the extent of the tragedy that would follow.

Those procedures included four root canals and multiple cavity fillings, according to the documents.

L. Richard Fried Jr., an attorney for the family, said the child was given “grossly excessive” amounts of sedatives, had a heart attack and later suffered brain damage.

In its lawsuit the family claims staff was improperly trained for emergencies and failed to check the patient’s vital signs for 26 minutes. Overdoses are a common kind of medical malpractice.

Reports say the dentist’s surgery has since closed down.

Medical malpractice claims at the hands of a dentist are more common than we would like to believe. In November 2013, a NewsChannel 3 investigation reported a dentist from Chesapeake, Virginia is facing millions of dollars in medical malpractice claims.

One patient claimed he “left a drill inside a tooth while performing a root canal” and did not tell the patient. Another claimed to have been “disfigured” and “permanently injured” by dental implants.

In the past I have written about the work of the Raven Maria Blanco Foundation which has campaigned for stricter standards in dentistry in the wake of the death of a 9-year-old girl when she was undergoing dental work in Virginia Beach.

See our frequently asked questions about medical malpractice in Virginia. If you have lost a loved one due to a mistake during dental surgery or in a hospital or if you have been injured or disfigured by dental work, call Cooper Hurley Injury Lawyers at 757.455.0077 or see Cooperhurley.com