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Exactly a year after his patient died as a result of having 20 teeth pulled and several implants installed, a Connecticut dentist was on Feb. 17 arrested and charged with criminally negligent homicide. Rashmi Patel, 45, of Suffield, was charged with tampering with evidence. He is currently out on a $25,000 bail and is scheduled to appear at Superior Court in Enfield on Feb. 24.
Investigations began last year after Patel’s patient, 64-year-old Judith Gan of Ellington, died at a hospital Feb. 17. State dental regulators concluded that Patel failed to adequately respond when Gan’s oxygen levels dropped dangerously low when she was consciously sedated in the middle of the tooth extraction and implant procedures in Patel’s Enfield office the same day, the Hartford Courant reported.
Patel reportedly ignored the patient’s deteriorating condition and did not respond when changes in her oxygen levels and vital signs were reported to him by the dental assistants, state Department of Public Health inspectors said in the charging statement. One assistant begged Patel to stop the procedure, the report says.
Gan had an extensive medical history, including cardiac problems, the records say. During the procedure, the low-oxygen alarm went off repeatedly and the patient was making gurgling sounds before she stopped breathing.
Gan’s death and other incidents prompted the State Dental Commission to suspend Patel’s license pending a months-long review of his practice and permanently ban him from performing conscious sedation. He will be on probation for five years after the license suspension is lifted.
Patel’s attorney, Paul Knag has said in the past that the dentist’s monitoring equipment wasn’t working properly. He also said that his client did not violate any standard of care, and that expert witnesses called in Patel’s defense during an administrative hearing testified that he was not negligent.
However, this isn’t the first time that Patel has been the subject of a health department investigation. On Dec. 19, 2013, while Patel was extracting another patient’s teeth, the patient aspirated the throat pack. In that case, Patel failed to properly monitor the patient’s response to conscious sedation, and failed to remove the throat pack in a timely way, the Department of Public Health records state. That patient began to choke, and was transported to Bay State Medical Center with “grossly diminished breath sounds” and a “compromised airway.” That patient survived, a DPH spokesman told the Hartford Courant.
Inspectors also found at least five expired medications in his office.
On Sept. 16, 2011, a Superior Court jury in Litchfield ruled in favor of another Patel patient who had sued him for malpractice after he severely damaged her mouth and teeth in a reconstructive procedure, according to the lawsuit. The jury awarded Doreen Jasonis $442,000. After the verdict, Patel’s lawyers filed an appeal, and both sides settled out of court for an undisclosed amount, the Hartford Courant reported.
