3 year old Finley Boyle has died after careless sedation by dentist and staff in Hawaii dental office.

This is the saddest picture I think I’ve seen in many years and should be the one that comes to mind the next time ANY dentists want to sedate a child.  Sadly these deaths are more common than you may think.  In 2011 there were 8 that were reported, who knows how many were not.

On December 3, 2013 baby Finley was sedated at Island Dentistry for Children. Dr. Lilly Geyer was the dentist in charge, but who actually administered the deadly cocktail 5 different drugs?  According to court documents a “technician” gave Finley the lethal cocktail. Not surprising to those of us who watch this sort of news, questions have arisen as to the whether Finely actually needed the extensive treatment recommended at her November check-up by Dr. Geyer.

Court documents say when Dr. Lilly Geyer discovered Finley had gone into cardiac arrest, the doctor ran down the hall to a pediatrician’s office in the building to get him to come and perform CPR.

The AAPD Guidelines recommends vital signs should be monitored and documented at least every five minutes for patients who are sedated.  However, as was learned in the dental malpractice case in Syracuse, NY the AAPD guidelines are “options”.  Dentists on the stand testified under oath, the AAPD guidelines have little influence in the decisions many dentists make in treatment. (sorry, I tried not to do there)

According to the Boyle’s attorney, Rick Fried, only 3 notations were made as to Finley's vital signs and they went unchecked for 26 minutes after the technician sedated her.

I can only conclude Dr. Geyer and staff as careless idiots.

As promoted by the Raven Marie Blanco Foundation, every dentist office should be prepared to handle a medical emergency and recommends The Six Links of Survival. 

See the RMBF Public Service Announcement

However, dentists are fighting this “tooth and nail”.  State dental boards are doing little to protect the public and everything to make it easier for dentists to increase their income stream by offering sedation.

Below are several links to various stories, don’t miss out on the comments.  As you will see in the comments, the first thing people do is blame the victim or in this case the victim’s parents.  What is usually not stressed in the stories is that the child probably did NOT need such extensive treatment, if at all.

Family says 3 year old Finley Boyles was given too much anesthesia.

 

December 11, 2013

KAILUA, OAHU (HawaiiNewsNow) -

A three-year-old girl is in critical condition following a procedure at a local dentist in Kailua, Oahu.

Three year old Finley Boyle is at Kapiolani Medical Center.  It's unknown if she had any pre-existing medical conditions but we do know a lot of lives have been changed forever.

Photos show three year old Finley Boyle's bright smile.  Family friends say on December 3 she was brought in for a dental procedure at Island Dentistry in the Kailua Professional Center when something went horribly wrong.

The friends say Finley was given too much anesthesia and sedatives.  She then went into cardiac arrest and now has severe brain damage and will never be the same.

Friends say the dentist is Dr. Lilly Geyer.  Her office, called Island Dentistry for Children, has a sign up saying it is currently closed.  Not even the delivery man was let in. There were people in the office but they weren't talking.

"We have no comment," said an unidentified man inside the office.

The Island Dentistry website has also been taken down, but a screen grab from the archived website says the practice opened in 2006 and has 2,000 patients.

The "about us" section of the site also says Dr. Geyer "is certified in Basic Life Support, Advanced Cardiac Life Support, as well as Pediatric Advanced Life Support."  However friends say when Finley began having complications the staff ran to the pediatrician's office down the hall and that doctor came to help with CPR.