Dentist investigated for possible Medicaid fraud Embattled Southside pediatric dentist under investigation by state
April 30, 2015
Excerpts:
…Lt. Michael Maloney with the Florida Attorney General's office is in Jacksonville, investigating claims of Medicaid fraud by Dr. Howard Schneider…
…The mother who started the social media campaign against Schneider (pictured) said she decided to post to Facebook what happened to her child in December. Within a few hours of her post, dozens of parents flooded the News4Jax newsroom with calls and emails about Schneider, whose pediatric dental practice is on University Boulevard. Brandi Motley claims her daughter went in to get one tooth fixed but ended up with a mouthful of problems.
…“She's been going to the dentist since she was 2, and she's never had any teeth problems, no decaying no cavities, and now all of a sudden her whole mouth is messed up because of him,” Motley said.
…Motley said she wasn't allowed into the procedure room while Schneider was working on her daughter in December. She said the nurse came into the waiting room three hours later and told her there had been an accident. Motley said the nurse told her to take her child to the emergency room, but she said the story the nurse told her didn't match with the story her daughter told her.
…“(My daughter) said the man doctor threw her and the lady doctor picked her back up and they were laughing and sat on her while the lady was slapping her on the face while he was choking her and that's when they pulled her teeth,” Motley said.
…About five people contacted News4Jax reporter Heather Leigh on Wednesday offering support of Schneider. They didn't want to be interviewed but said the dentist is a good person and does good work.
…Parent Kellee Davis…brought her son to the protest Wednesday to show everyone what she said is the result of Schneider's work.
…“He had scratches all across his face. They told me they tried to do the procedure before restraining him, but he was clawing at the dentist. I just chalked it up to, 'He's old, maybe he's getting sloppy with his work,' but how do I know if that's true now with all these allegations?” Davis said. “These two are the fake teeth; the caps they put on. They shaved these front two teeth to put them on. You can see on the two side teeth, they're all yellow and ground down because of the drill. If you look up here at his gumline, you can see the holes and indentions in the gumline where the teeth weren't put up under the gum, they were just stuck there….her son originally went in to have a chipped tooth fixed.”
…Amber Jones, said she brought her son, who has autism, in to get work done, too. She said they left terrified. "Now when you say the word dentist, when you say the word doctor, he's traumatized,” Amber Jones said. “It's one thing with a normal child, but having an autistic child that can't say, 'He hurt me,' or, 'I can't defend myself,' and that's what my son went through because of this man.”
