Posted on 04/22/2008 10:37:44 AM PDT by kingattax
Oral Surgery Goes Awry As Patient Given Anesthesia And Then Left In Building While Employees Lock Up And Leave---
BROOKLYN (CBS) For most, going in to get a wisdom tooth pulled is already a nightmare scenario. So imagine going in to get a wisdom tooth pulled, and then being locked inside the dental office and forgotten by the staff.
CBS 2 HD has learned a lot more about these shocking, real-life allegations.
Ramona Mercado says she was hysterical after waking up from general anesthesia all alone at the Oral Surgery and Implant Center in Williamsburg.
"Terrified, I was hyper ventilating," Mercado said. "I threw up a couple of times from over exhaustion of crying.
"No one in the office, everything was closed all the lights were off."
Mercado says from inside she called the service that referred her to this place, and they called 911 to get her out.
"The police officers came, they snipped the locks off," Mercado said. "They were the ones who opened up the door and let me out."
Mercado, a mother of two small children, says she was locked in the Oral Surgery Center for about 40 minutes and even saw her dental file left on the desk. She says the recovery room was a walk-in space with no door, so she can't understand how the staff didn't see her.
"I never got a chance to sign myself off to be discharged out, so I don't know if they were waiting for me to wake-up or they just forgot," she said. "I assume they really forgot, forgot about me."
She's now suing for medical malpractice. Her lawyer says even his colleagues find the story amazing.
"They thought it was so outrageous, they wouldn't even believe it, and unless I told them that the police had to come there and break the door down to get them out," John Kouroupas said.
"People now realize that something this crazy can happen to someone."
Needless to say, Mercado has soured on the whole surgery idea.
"I will not get anesthesia again," she said. "I don't care what procedure I have to go through, I just have to suffer through the pain."
CBS 2 HD contacted Mercado's doctor at the Oral Surgery and Implant Center for a comment, but received no response.
[...I’m sure I would not fear being locked in a clinic for 40 minutes. I would be mad, yes.]
Same here. Cussin a blue streak that I’d have to “be nice” and not set myself free by simply breaking some glass. Don’t wanna experience unlawful (accidental) imprisonment only to be rewarded with a burglary or vandalism charge after the alarm goes off, LOL.
You still do not understand. It is the job of the ones mentioned to make certain patients are watched. If by chance it is a non certified doing it then the Dentist takes the responsibility for his employee's working under him. The non certified should be doing non patient contact work like answering phones, appointments, etc.
However in any medical practice the treatment rooms should be checked before closing. A certified or the dentist himself as well should have been monitoring an uncertified if that was the case. There was no excuse for it if this woman was actually left in recovery state and no one bothered to do a room and chair check much less check on her.
BTW this is a dental clinic? I've been in several and even had all my upper and lower extractions done at one. Every time all work was done in the same room same chair usually the same assistant from start to finish checking on me. And I'm refering to the bargain clinics too.
How would they get her there? Into the recovery room I mean? Recovery room in a dentist office is in the chair you sat down in when the procedure began . From what I've seen it the same in an Oral Surgeons office. They use a dental chair.
I have no idea how they did that. Maybe they woke her up then took her into some other "recovery room" to rest up before she could leave.
I can’t believe anyone still debates the coolness of socialized medicine! I heard a nutball on Hannity today saying others come here only for ‘special’ procedures. Rubbish!
Nope they wouldn’t do that either. Too big a liability. They don’t want you standing until you are ready to stand. Falls cost money. I was put under for a routine test a few weeks back. Total time under was 20 minutes. I was on a gurney but it wasn’t a dentist office though. Actually I woke up in the procedure room it was so quick. Within a few minutes I was OK for walking out and being driven home. The paper I signed though said I could be asleep for up to three hours after initial injection. It was an out patient clinic setting and they checked on all of us like mother hens on chicks until they walked the person out the door or at least the waiting room with family.
Welll, uhm, no, I was talking about a lady who got a new bum instead of the procedure she was supposed to have...I’ll research it for you and send you a link, but not tonight. Patience...
Seinfeld. LOL!
Yup, I guess a lot of the old timers didn’t believe in painkillers.
Well, then I don't know how she woke up in a recovery room... the article doesn't really say how she got from the proceedure room to the recovery room. Perhaps we'll hear more later after she wins her lawsuit.
Is she asking for millions?
Hadn’t seen that.
Being left unattended under anaesthesia is a serious matter. I already said I’m not sure if I would sue, and if I did, it wouldn’t be for millions. But let’s not go off on her for feeling out of sorts.
I’m re-re-reading the story.
Because it was so vaguely written (or maybe since it seems it was transcribed from a tv story, so the pics may ckear things up a bit), it seems that she had gone thru a procedure and was moved to a place to recover from anaesthesia, etc.
So, she wasn’t being put under and abandoned, which we all agree would be beyond dangerous.
But she was neglected after the procedure to make sure her vitals and all were doing well post-procedure.
I remember coming out of anaesthesia a few times...it was hours before I could do much of anything without being in a fog...memory, motor skills, you name it.
The time I had my earlier detailed wisdom-teerh surgery it was a few hours before I was slowly helped out bed and into a seperate sitting room before eventually getting a ride home with mom and dad (was in HS at the time).
So feeling groggy, in a foreign environment, kinda panicking, I can see happening. Worth a few coins? sure. Within reason.
ya know, the entire staff that was on duty IS RESPONSIBLE, and while I can see the jokes that come after it’s all done and over with.., they need to be smacked. hard. whack whack What ya bet they still charge her.
Too bad the crappy doctors who lose lawsuits for a horrendous case of malpractice (such as your example) can’t lose their license...perhaps be under laws similar to driving cars. Sheesh.....
I’m still wondering how it happened. The last two times I had surgery (wisdom tooth and tendenitis, respectively), the docs refused to operate unless I brought a minder, and the second time I wasn’t even knocked out.
As a Board Certified Oral and Maxillofacial surgeon I am held to the same standards as an MD or CRNA anesthesia provider. Our surgery suites are fully monitored and equipped to meet the same standards. I employ an licensed R.N. who previously worked in surgery center to recover and monitor my patients until they meet discharge criteria. All of this is recorded on an anesthesia record that has to be signed off by me prior to their departure. When some smuck pulls something like this it paints all of us who do the best we can for our patients with the same poo. Just for the record our association requires periodic testing and onsite facility inspection for OMS doctors. I can’t imagine what kind of outfit this must have been. BTW just because your dentist tells you he is an oral surgeon doesn’t mean he or she is. One of the most common disciplinary actions of State Dental Boards is for holding one self out as a specialist when one isn’t.
I think you’re the second one who pointed out that the intelligent thing to do would be call 911 immediately. LOL!
I wonder if, in the same position, I would really think about it in the haze that occurs when I’ve just come out of anesthesia.
That happened to me as well....husband had to take off work early for me. I remember being sick after the surgery...and was told later that the stuff they use to “knock patients out” is known to make people sick because it’s lower quality than used in regular surgical procedures—to save money. It’s possible the woman threw up because of the medicine and not being “upset”.
Knowing there are mistakes in news reports, maybe some details were left out. Maybe the person that was ‘’suppose’’ to accompany her forgot to show up? (assuming she walked, took a taxi or bus) My husband slept the entire ride home when it happened to him.
That's the problem....self-regulation.
“I wonder if, in the same position, I would really think about it [dialing 911] in the haze that occurs when I’ve just come out of anesthesia.”
Depends on the person, I guess. My mood would go from bewilderment to peed off soon as I figured out I’d been fooled about going home within a certain amount of time, only to have been abandoned thoughtlessly. Right before I tried chucking a chair through a glass door, I might think to explain it all to 911 first so they don’t arrest me for it, LOL. Not fear, just a lack of patience, eh?
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