Posted on 07/25/2004 7:33:41 PM PDT by Stew Padasso
Ex-employees say they saved dentist's syringes
Workers testify they were suspicious of Hall's actions with patients
KAREN GARLOCH
Staff Writer
RALEIGH - Two former employees of Cornelius dentist Dr. John Hall became suspicious of his behavior in May 2003 and, over the next few months, collected five syringes from his office that were found to contain his semen, according to testimony Saturday before the N.C. Board of Dental Examiners.
Cheryl Lynn MacLeod of Concord said she found it unusual when Hall began asking her to leave a patient's side to retrieve items that he didn't end up using, when she overheard him telling patients to "swallow" something, and when she saw him take a syringe out of his lab coat pocket while working beside a patient.
MacLeod said multiple patients remarked on the substance Hall had put in their mouths. She and Susie Hillman, Hall's former office administrator, took the five syringes from office waste containers and Hall's lab coat pockets and gave them to police.
MacLeod and Hillman testified on the second day of a public hearing on the state dental board's allegations that Hall violated dentistry's standard of care, engaged in "immoral conduct," and committed "sexual assault or battery" by asking six former patients, including a 14-year-old, to swallow his semen. Five of the six patients testified Friday about their experiences.
The dental board suspended Hall's license Nov. 5, after police began investigating the allegations brought to them by MacLeod and Hillman. In February, the board restored Hall's license with conditions, including the requirement that he cannot be alone with female patients.
After the hearing, the board's panel of five dentists will decide whether Hall can keep his license. Mecklenburg County's district attorney's office and Charlotte and Cornelius police are continuing to investigate.
Hall's lawyers say the dentist has been falsely accused by disgruntled former employees and that he was collecting his semen in the syringes because he was taking Propecia, a drug to promote hair growth. Potential side effects include low sperm count and diminished semen, according to Hall's lawyer, Emerson Thompson of Charlotte.
During his opening statement and cross-examination of witnesses, Thompson suggested the substance Hall asked patients to swallow could have been a dental product.
In a sworn deposition read aloud Saturday, Hall's former dental assistant Rhonda Hamilton described several dental products used in Hall's office and none matched how some patients described the substance.
Most of the dental products Hamilton described would have been suctioned out, not swallowed, she said, and they would have been applied to specific teeth or tissue with a brush tip, not squirted into the mouth.
When Cornelius police searched Hall's office Nov. 5, they confiscated five more syringes with Hall's semen from his desk, according to the board and hearing testimony.
The hearing, which is scheduled for at least five days, continues today and will reconvene next weekend.
Nitrous Oxide given in the appropriate concentrations for analgesia is a mild analgesic and would not paralyze anyone. Given in higher concentrations it may produce dysphoria(unpleasant) side affects but still would not paralyze a patient. When given in the operating room with a controlled circuit on an unconcious patient larger concentrations can be used and is very beneicial as a part of multiple agent general anesthestic. In an dental office it is hard to give an concentration that would make a person unconscious. However one of the known side affects is potential amorous feelings it induces in women. We were taught long ago that if you use it on a female never allow yourself to remain unattended. Perception is reality when it comes to patient memory and not worth taking a chance. This creep however has other issues that they don't cover in dental school.
Reminds me, I have a dentist appointment in a couple weeks. Perhaps I should cancel?
You can get this over the counter or...
There was a dentist in my old hometown who used the nitrous to molest young men alone in his office - he would perform oral sex on them, so maybe it doesn't just make women amorous? Just reduces inhibitions in people who are semi-attracted anyway?
I've never had amorous feelings for any of my health care providers but some people do.
I am wondering if all his victims were women.
Just to gross you out....
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