Tuesday, August 25, 2009

South Carolina Jury Award $2 Million in Dental Malpractice

August 25, 2009

Elizabeth Smith v Sexton Dental Clinic

 

A South Carolina patient recovered a $2 million jury verdict against the dental clinic that accidentally pulled 13 additional teeth. The Florence County jury ruled against the Sexton Dental Clinic in a malpractice lawsuit asserting dentists pulled all 16 of the patient’s top teeth.

South Carolina medical malpractice lawsuit involving Sexton Dental Clinic in Florence County resulted in a $2 million jury verdict.

Columbia, SC–Personal injury lawyers representing a South Carolina patient, who fell victim to gross medical negligence by dentists at the Sexton Dental Clinic recovered a $2 million jury verdict in a Florence County court room. As reported by South Carolina Now, the plaintiff, Elizabeth Smith, a 28 year-old Sumter woman, sought treatment for a cracked tooth at the Sexton Dental Clinic, in Florence in May 2006. A Florence County jury returned a $2 million verdict in mid-August after hearing the personal injury claim that left the young woman with no upper teeth since 2006 when a rogue dentist removed all of her upper dentia.

According to court documents filed by South Carolina dental malpractice attorneys representing the seriously injured woman, three dentists at the Sexton Dental Clinic; Dr. Robert W. Scott, Dr. Robert G. Jamison, and Dr. John R. Clark, extracted all 16 of Smith’s upper teeth including 13 without any medical basis. The catastrophically damaged young woman further claimed in her malpractice suit the dentist falsified her medical records to cover up their mistake. Apparently, the dentist’s determined she needed to have a total of three teeth removed and ended up pulling all 16 teeth in her upper palate. The medical malpractice lawsuit named the Sexton Dental Clinic, CEO, and the three dentists who all denied the allegations of wrongdoing.

The South Carolina Board of Dentistry http://www.llr.state.sc.us/POL/Dentistry/ which operates under the South Carolina Department of Labor www.llr.state.sc.us/ division of Licensing and Regulation lists all three of the above named dentist’s licenses as active. During research of the three named dentists on the Board of Dentistry website information about a previous action involving Dr. Robert G. Jamison, D.M.D., around July 23, 1996 surfaced. According to public records, Dr. Jamison, admitted to violating South Carolina standards of care in the treatment of two patients and submitted to disciplinary and corrective actions under S.C. Code Ann. Section 40-15-200 (Supp. 1996). He was ordered to pain a fine, one year probation, and 32 hours of remedial education course in removable prosthodontics.

The South Carolina Board of Dentistry website states their primary purpose is to oversee examinations, licensing certification, annual re-registration and regulation of dentist and dental professionals including dental laboratory technicians. The Board also investigates complaints and disciplines dentists and dental professionals. If you or your family has suffered injury because of the negligence or malpractice of a dental professional you can file a complaint with the South Carolina Board of Dentistry at http://www.llr.state.sc.us/POL/Dentistry/index.asp?file=complaint.htm.  

South Carolina medical malpractice jury verdict alerts by legal news reporter Heather L. Ryan.