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Dental Nightmare: Woman Put Under, Forgotten
CBS ^ | Apr 22, 2008 | Cindy Hsu

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.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: dentist; sedationdentistry
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To: kingattax; MeekOneGOP; Conspiracy Guy; DocRock; King Prout; Darksheare; OSHA; martin_fierro; ...
Cue music!


21 posted on 04/22/2008 10:53:54 AM PDT by Slings and Arrows ("Code Pink should guard against creating stereotypes in the Mincing Community." --Titan Magroyne)
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To: cvq3842

“For the first 30 years of my life, I went to a dentist that didn’t use novacaine for ANYTHING, including fillings!”

Ever see the movie Marathon Man? Are you sure your dentist wasn’t a former Nazi war criminal?


22 posted on 04/22/2008 10:54:27 AM PDT by murron (Proud Marine Mom)
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To: Slings and Arrows; EveningStar; JRios1968

I’ll see your ping list and raise you one...


23 posted on 04/22/2008 10:54:51 AM PDT by Froufrou
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To: kingattax

I watch too much SciFi.

When I read this is,I wondered what my my reaction might be to the same situation.

I believe I’d turn around and see if my body was laying on the table behind me, make sure I was alive, then wonder if I woke up in an alternate reality. (lol!)

Barring the above circumstance, I’m sure I would not fear being locked in a clinic for 40 minutes. I would be mad, yes.


24 posted on 04/22/2008 10:56:01 AM PDT by Shortcake
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To: murron

I couldn’t sit through Marathon Man.

The dentist was a friend of my Dad’s and very old fashioned. He may have had novacaine if people asked, but he didn’t really believe in it and I just thought that’s why people hated the dentist.

Again, the thought of getting a tooth filled that way today makes me sick.

Live and learn! :)


25 posted on 04/22/2008 10:56:45 AM PDT by cvq3842
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To: netmilsmom

And boy, did I pay for it. Not only was that particular dentist way over my allowed insurance payments, insurance wouldn’t cover what I called my “chicken premium”—the sedative and nitrous. Near as I could tell, they just wanted me to tie a string from the tooth to a truck’s trailer hitch and wait for him to drive away. :)

“Twilighted” is a good word for it. The dental assistants told me later I was very good company, quite chatty, and holding as normal a conversation with them as I could under the circumstances (high as a kite and with a dentist ripping out a tooth)...and I don’t remember a second of it. I took the first pill, they started working on me, I told them it wasn’t having any effect so maybe I needed a second, they gave me a second—turns out I needed one and a half, because that second one just blew me away. Couldn’t focus my eyes for most of the rest of the day.

}:-)4


26 posted on 04/22/2008 10:58:37 AM PDT by Moose4 (http://moosedroppings.wordpress.com -- Because 20 million self-important blogs just aren't enough.)
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To: kingattax

After I had my wisdom teeth pulled, I woke up in a different room and I was crying because I was so sad.

I could hear my friend, who was there to take me home, asking the nurse why I was crying. The nurse said, “Oh, they do that. She’ll be okay.”.

Why didn’t this lady have a friend waiting for her?


27 posted on 04/22/2008 10:58:41 AM PDT by donna (The United States Constitution and the Koran are mutually exclusive.)
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To: kingattax
Get used to it!

When socialized medicine comes around, you be thrilled to even see a medical person and pray they don't kill you or mix up your charts with someone else. It will be a cold assembly line.

28 posted on 04/22/2008 10:59:38 AM PDT by nmh (Intelligent people recognize Intelligent Design (God).)
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To: Jeff Chandler
Something has to be done to halt the slide toward Idiocracy.

Negligent retards deserve the spear.

29 posted on 04/22/2008 10:59:44 AM PDT by The KG9 Kid
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To: Moose4

Sorry to say this, but that kind of sounds like fun!

Not the tooth part but the meds....


30 posted on 04/22/2008 11:00:23 AM PDT by netmilsmom (I am very mad at Disney. Give me my James Marsden song!!!!!)
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To: Shortcake

I think I’d wait until I felt stable enough to walk, then go in search of a phone and call 911, like most of us would. Then again, coming out of anesthesia in a strange darkened place probably isn’t conducive to rational thought processes at first.

}:-)4


31 posted on 04/22/2008 11:01:15 AM PDT by Moose4 (http://moosedroppings.wordpress.com -- Because 20 million self-important blogs just aren't enough.)
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To: faloi

True. I didn’t catch the 40 minute part the first time around.


32 posted on 04/22/2008 11:01:36 AM PDT by netmilsmom (I am very mad at Disney. Give me my James Marsden song!!!!!)
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To: kingattax

You really shouldn’t go to any medical procedure where you will be administered anesthesia alone. You should always bring someone with you in case you are groggy when you come to and need someone to drive you home. Sometimes anesthesia makes you sick as well. And in some cases, God forbid, something could go wrong. I wouldn’t want to be by myself if I was going to go under.


33 posted on 04/22/2008 11:02:13 AM PDT by murron (Proud Marine Mom)
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To: Jeff Chandler

I might just be inclined to think, “Well Dad has the kids and this is a sign that I need some alone time!”

Might just take a good needed nap before calling 911


34 posted on 04/22/2008 11:03:23 AM PDT by netmilsmom (I am very mad at Disney. Give me my James Marsden song!!!!!)
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To: netmilsmom; nmh; Moose4; kingattax

I had a periodontic scaling once that left my lower jaw feeling like a speed bump. Couldn’t even sip water from a straw without drooling.

*sigh* Good times...


35 posted on 04/22/2008 11:03:29 AM PDT by Froufrou
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To: Jeff Chandler

“What a drama queen: They left me in a building”

Leaving her in the building is worth 20 cents or so. Leaving her alone while under general anesthetic is worth millions. That is a potentially life threatening situation.


36 posted on 04/22/2008 11:04:05 AM PDT by driftdiver
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To: pgyanke

What about that u-tube video of the guy stuck on an elevator for 42 hours.


37 posted on 04/22/2008 11:06:06 AM PDT by dangerdoc (dangerdoc (not actually dangerous any more))
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To: Froufrou

Yikes!!!!


38 posted on 04/22/2008 11:07:07 AM PDT by netmilsmom (I am very mad at Disney. Give me my James Marsden song!!!!!)
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To: netmilsmom

Yeah, it’s interesting. More and more high-end dentists are getting into doing sedation dentistry and selling it at a premium. It does have the advantage of getting you nice and looped so they can do a bunch of stuff at one time (in my case, removing one tooth, crowning the one next to it, and a badly-needed cleaning). The disadvantage is that insurance almost never pays for it, and it tacks several hundred dollars onto a procedure.

It’s tricky, though. When I came around, I felt fine. I mean, man, I felt like I’d slept 12 hours and was ready to rock and roll—even the novocaine numbness was all but gone. I swung my legs off the bed and stood up as the assistant tried to stop me...and kept going. Damn near went face-first into a mirror before I caught myself. I laid back down after that.

My wife came and got me, and the ride home was interesting. My eyes would not focus. I was OK otherwise, but no matter what I did, no matter how hard I willed myself or strained, my eye muscles would not move to focus at middle distances. That’s a very weird sensation. We got home, she helped me up the stairs, and I slept the rest of the day.

If you hate dentists as passionately as I do, it really is the way to go. I honestly don’t think I can go back to a dentist that won’t give me nitrous, even for a simple cleaning. I have a real fear of them, and combined with a hair-trigger gag reflex, that makes me a dentist’s nightmare to work on. The hygenists always told me they gassed me as much for their benefit as for mine. :)

}:-)4


39 posted on 04/22/2008 11:07:45 AM PDT by Moose4 (http://moosedroppings.wordpress.com -- Because 20 million self-important blogs just aren't enough.)
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To: driftdiver

They don’t give you general for oral surgery. A little Versed to make you sleep and then a local.


40 posted on 04/22/2008 11:07:59 AM PDT by dangerdoc (dangerdoc (not actually dangerous any more))
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