Dentist Wins Case Over Tusks in Mouth

OLYMPIA, Wash. - An oral surgeon who temporarily implanted fake boar tusks in his assistant's mouth as a practical joke and got sued for it has gotten the state's high court to back up his gag.

Dr. Robert Woo of Auburn had put in the phony tusks while the woman was under anesthesia for a different procedure. He took them out before she awoke, but he first shot photos that eventually made it around the office.

The employee, Tina Alberts, felt so humiliated when she saw the pictures that she quit and sued her boss.

So, it sounds like she won her suit against her boss, the “dentist.” But, the dentist’s insurance company refused to pay on his behalf, saying his joke was not part of the normal course of the dentist’s business. This left him to pay her the damages himself.

But, he sued his insurance company and, in the end, the state supreme court decided 5-4 that his insurance company IS on the hook after all (and must pay MORE to him!).

I’m sure his colleagues are real happy their liability insurance premiums will go up thanks to this idiot’s offbeat sense of humor.

“One would think that could be called assault. Considering she was incapacitated at the time and didn’t consent.”

It definitely was not a “light-hearted prank” either, considering that she WASN’T “in” on the joke, even after the fact. He performed an unauthorized dental procedure on her, made her look like a pig, took pictures of her with tusks, then passed those pictures around behind her back to everyone else in the office. At the very least, he had to administer extra anesthesia in order to keep her under for the extra time required to glue the tusks in and then take them out. That in itself is dangerous.

I personally think that the dentist’s behavior is a sign of a disturbed person, especially since he never intended to show the pictures to the woman involved. The big fun of a complicated “prank” is the “pay-off” - when the victim of the prank is shown the handiwork, then invited to join in the joke. There is none of that here - just the malicious mockery of a person. One can almost hear the dentist and his staff, infantilistically sniggering in the corner while staring at their “secret photos”.

It makes one wonder what other “unauthorised procedures” he has committed and photographed while patients are under the knife...

After five years, you'd probably guess that he'd be aware of how far to go with the assistant.

Also, that he didn't show the picture to the assistant after taking it, but showed it to other employees doesn't seem very kind or good-natured.

Apparently he either didn't have a good read of his worker or it was an unkind gesture which got him into a snafu.

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