Patient Dies After Indian-Origin Dentist Extracts 20 Teeth at One Sitting

An Indian-origin dentist in the US has had his license revoked after a 64-year old patient died when the doctor extracted 20 of her teeth in a single sitting. Judith Gan from Connecticut visited Dr Rashmi Patel on February 17 to get implants fitted. Dr Patel’s assistant revealed that he had asked the doctor to stop removing the teeth after Gan lost consciousness and rushed out to call the emergency services but the patient was already dead by the time they reached the scene.

Dr Patel has been under the scanner once already after being sued by a former employee who alleged that he had performed ‘shoddy work’ in 2009 on another patient, Doreen Jasonis. She was awarded $500,000 in compensation but Dr Patel appealed against the verdict before settling the case out of court.

The state department of public health revealed that Dr Patel has been ordered to stay away from his patients and has been suspended from practice. “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. 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 properly respond to Gan's oxygen desaturation and/or respiratory distress and/or cardio-pulmonary distress”, the department wrote in its report.


Source-Medindia