GIRL SUFFERS BRAIN DAMAGE AFTER A VISIT TO THE DENTIST

A Houston family is considering a lawsuit against a dentist after their child suffered brain damage from multiple seizures during the visit.
 Attorneys say the seizures were brought on by the use of several sedatives and a sometimes controversial restraint device.


"In essence what happened is this child was chemically and physically suffocated,” said Jim Moriarty the attorney for the family of 4-year-old Nevaeh Hall. "This child suffered massive brain damage during that time period and that didn't have to happen."

It wasn't Nevaeh's first time at Diamond Dental in Houston. Her mother, Courissa Clark, said it was her third visit and that she expected some of her daughter's teeth to be capped or even removed because of decay.


Clark and her husband were told to stay in the waiting room, she said.
Nevaeh's records show she was given multiple sedatives: "sedated in the office for over seven hours, given five sedatives for a routine dental procedure that should have been done and over by mid morning."
The child had been placed in a commonly used restraint device called a papoose. The device confines the child’s arms and legs so they can’t interfere with the dental procedure.

"And I can tell you that this chart shows you that this child was essentially tortured,” said Moriarty, holding a printout of the oxygen, blood pressure, and pulse measurements recorded during the visit.

“Her body tried to compensate for her inability to breathe by increasing her heart rate to as high as 196 beats per minute," the records showed. And that her oxygen saturation dropped as low as 49%. Severe hypoxia is often classified as any saturation lower than 86%. And is known to cause brain damage.
"They never did call it a seizure. They just said shaking, she's shaking,” Clark said in a Thursday news conference. “Just the whole time they assured us that everything was OK. And the next time we were allowed to come in is when the paramedics were actually coming back. And that was about four hours later."
Records show Dr. Bethaniel Jefferson, who treated Nevaeh, has been reprimanded and fined by the Texas State Board of Dental Examiners at least twice before.
Her license has been temporarily suspended after this incident and a license revocation hearing is pending.

Jefferson did not return phone calls seeking comment.
Some dentists defend the use of the restraint device in certain carefully monitored situations.
But as Nevaeh’s family prepares a lawsuit for what Moriarty alleges was gross negligence, they are speaking out now to send a warning.
"If parents are being told to authorize or grant permission to papoose their child, they probably ought to run,” said Craig Jacobs, a dentist with Children First Dental, who was with the family at Thursday's news conference.
"Clinics across America, across Houston, across Texas use the same business model every day to over treat these children and use these restraints. And the standard is exactly what happened here, separate mom and dad from their child, assuage their fears, take the child back, over treat them and get away with it,” Moriarty said. “We've got to get the American public to understand you cannot allow your child to be held in a restraint device without you personally being present.” [yahoo news]