sexual assault

Dentist Who Groped Patients Sentenced to Jail

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A Melbourne Australian dentist who groped his patients was sentenced to jail for seven years in late 2018. The 60 year old dentist plead guilty to indecent assault of eight patients and one staff member over a period of nearly 20 years. He must serve at least four and a half years before being eligible for parole. The dentist had actually had his registration suspended due to a patient who died after having wisdom teeth removed in August 2017. The dentist had been prevented from treating women since November 2016 as complaints from women began to come in 2014. He first denied three complaints but then as additional complaints came in he was forced to go to trial. In one case the dentist ran his hands against a woman’s hips and breast and mouthed “I love you” to her. In … Read more

Litigation Resulting from Anesthesia in Oral Surgery

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A very interesting article titled “Medical Malpractice Litigation Associated With Anesthesia in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery,” by Ji et al. appears in the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (vol. 76, pp. 1606-1610, 2018). The article attempts to explore malpractice in oral and maxillofacial surgery where anesthesia is involved that does not purely rely on media reports. In the study the authors used the Thomson Reuters Westlaw Next Database, to identify medical malpractice cases filed from 1985 through 2017. The cases included must have involved an oral and maxillofacial surgeon as a defendant. Furthermore, complications had to be attributable to local, intravenous, or general anesthesia delivered and the cases had to have progressed to trial by jury in a state or federal court. The authors identified an initial list of 112 cases but reduced the sample down to just 13 … Read more

Oral Surgery Misconduct During Wisdom Teeth Removal

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In other posts on this blog I have talked about unfortunately there have been cases of misconduct occuring during wisdom teeth removal. See for example In Light of the Allegations of Child Sex Abuse at Penn State… and expanded on and discussed in greater detail over at http://www.teethremoval.com/sexual_assault_under_anesthesia_for_wisdom_teeth_removal.html. In a recent case an oral surgeon in Massachusetts  was found guilty of fondling a 16 year old female patient while she was under sedation and having her wisdom teeth extracted. The oral surgeon was convicted of incident assault and battery and sentenced to 1 year in jail.  The patient in this case was fully clothed and another staff member of the dental team saw the misconduct occurring. These cases are unfortunate. In order for both patients and dentists and/or surgeons to avoid issues nurses or other chaperones should be present during the … Read more

In Light of the Allegations of Child Sex Abuse at Penn State…

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By now I am sure everyone has at least heard that Joe Paterno has been fired as the head coach of the Penn State college football team due to child sex abuse allegations made against one of his former assistant coaches. As discussed a few times on this blog and as indicated as a potential unfortunate risk of having wisdom teeth extracted there is the possibility of being sexually assaulted while under anesthesia to have wisdom teeth removed. As expanded on and discussed at http://www.teethremoval.com/sexual_assault_under_anesthesia_for_wisdom_teeth_removal.html many of the drugs that dentists and oral surgeons give during the surgery can cause in rare instances sexual hallucinations. This means that it is possible for no repercussions and/or loss of license and/or jail time to occur and it can be difficult to distinguish between dreams and actual molestation in the court of law. In … Read more