stories like this illustrate why more and more people choose to practice self-dentistry at home.
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.
lol!
The government health rationing system will fix this.
You’ll be able to unlock the doors from the inside (for a small fee).
What a drama queen: They left me in a building, so they owe me MILLIONS and MILLIONS of dollars.
KA-CHING!!!!
Wow - more lousy things that can happen to you while you are cheerfully sedated...
Yeah, she's just lucky she still has both kidneys.
>>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. <<
Who was watching her kids and why didn’t that person know that she didn’t come home?
This is really sad but sometimes the dumbest things happen. When I had a hysterectomy last year, they left me in the recovery room for 6 hours while they searched for an open room. It surely wasn’t as bad as this lady but it wasn’t fun either.
Y’know... it sounds like a nightmare all right. But c’mon, 40 minutes?!
I am thinking that a couple of people’s W2 forms will have a stop date exactly one day after this happened...
Doncha just hate it when that happens?
It’s not so much that. They left her unmonitored while she was under anesthesia, and from what I understand, that is a HUGE no-no. I had “sedation dentistry” done a while back to fix a broken and impacted back tooth and even though that doesn’t actually knock you fully out, just loopy, the dentist was required to keep me on a blood pressure, heart, and finger O2 monitor the entire time, until I started to come back coherent again.
If you’re a wuss like me, BTW, sedation dentistry is awesome. I am a firm believer in it. Then again, I have to have nitrous just to have a good vigorous cleaning...
}:-)4
>>But c’mon, 40 minutes?!<<
I didn’t see that.
I probably would have been laughing my butt off.
This woman is looking for $$$$$
“’Terrified, I was hyper ventilating,’ Mercado said. ‘I threw up a couple of times from over exhaustion of crying.’”
“I think five million dollars might begin to ease the pain and suffering I have endured.”
For the first 30 years of my life, I went to a dentist that didn’t use novacaine for ANYTHING, including fillings!
Then he retired, and I finally found out how much less unpleasant the whole experience could be.
It makes me cringe just thinking about it.
stories like this illustrate why more and more people choose to practice self-dentistry at home.
I’m assuming this was a clinic.
She was probably twilighted just like you. I’m not sure how much law is in the monitoring of twilight patients.
If one wants quality care, one should expect to be paying for that kind of care.
>>“Terrified, I was hyper ventilating,’ Mercado said. ‘I threw up a couple of times from over exhaustion of crying.’<
What a freakin’ Emo.
What they did was unconscionable, but if I woke up lone in a building after surgery I wouldn’t try to get rich over it. (I might frighten some people, but that’s about all.) You just know that’s what will happen here.
Maybe she’s suing because she didn’t get a new butt like that other lady did...
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