Malpractice Suit Filed Following Dental Procedure-Related Death of MD Teen

A 17-year-old Maryland teen died in April from complications that occurred during a routine wisdom teeth removal, and now her parents are seeking to hold the medical professionals responsible for the devastating death of their daughter. According to the Daily Mail, the parents of the deceased teen have now filed a medical malpractice suit against the oral surgeon and anesthetist claiming they were negligent and failed to resuscitate the teen after her heart rate and blood oxygen level dropped.

The dental surgery for having wisdom teeth removed is performed on 5 million Americans each year, making the death of this young girl very surprising considering it is a very routine procedure. The cause of death was determined to be hypoxia, or oxygen deprivation, while she was under anesthesia.

Medical malpractice is defined as an act of medical negligence that results in undue injury to the patient, and comes in a variety of forms, such as surgical errors, failure to monitor patient vital signs, or misdiagnosis. Dentistry is a very difficult profession with a typically high standard quality of care; however, negligence and malpractice can still occur like any other medical professions. In 2006, one out of every seven medical malpractice cases involved a dentist, according to data from the National Practitioner Data Bank.

Dental malpractice can be experienced in a number of ways, including:

• Wrongful death due to dental procedures or anesthetic;
• Personal injury to the oral cavity or the surrounding bone or tissue;
• Failure to suitably detect an oral disease;
• Installation of defective dental products; and
• Improper use of dental or surgical utensils.

When you experience any type of medical-related issue, you must entrust your health and well-being to a medical professional, but mistakes made in the healthcare industry can often lead to very serious injuries or possibly even death. If you have lost a loved one or endured a personal injury that you believe was caused by the negligence of a medical professional, the Waldorf medical malpractice attorneys of Alpert Schreyer can help you hold any at-fault parties responsible. For a free consultation with our legal team, call (800) 489-1577.