Small Smiles Dental Centers’ last ditch effort to avoid trial has FAILED

After 2 years or more of stall tactics by attorney’s representing Small Smiles Dental Center defendants, the New York trials are set to begin in three weeks!  Yes, you heard me, three, count’em 1… 2,…3… weeks!  Yahoo!  Jury selection set to begin September 9, 2013.

Tuesday (August 14, 2013) the  court ruled against Small Smiles and defendants and their plea for a Summary Judgment — essentially telling the old boys to buckle-up, quit whining, they have you by the balls, be ready for trial or start writing checks. Small Smiles Dental Centers’ former dentists (17 in total) and that nasty DeRose crew in Colorado are in for a very bumpy ride. 

Small Smiles Dental Centers NY Malpractice Defendants are:

Companies	Individuals
FORBA Holdings, LLC	Dan E. DeRose
n/k/a Church Street Health Management, LLC	Michael A. DeRose
FORBA NY, LLC	Edward J. DeRose
FORBA, LLC n/k/a LICSAC, NY, LLC	Adolph Padula
DD Marketing, Inc.	William A. Mueller
DeRose Management, LLC	Michael Roumph
Small Smiles Dentistry of Albany, LLC	Maziar Izadi, DDS
Albany Access Dentistry, PLLC	Laura Kroner, DDS
Small Smiles Dentistry of Syracuse, LLC	Judith Mori, DDS
	Lissett Bernal, DDS
	Edmise Forstal, DDS
	Evan Goldstein, DDS
	Keerthi Golla, DDS
	Nassef Lancen, DDS
	Wadia Hanna, DDS
	Koury Bonds, DDS
	Tarek Elsafty, DDS
	Dimitri Filostrat, DDS
	Yaqobb Khan, DDS
	Delia Morales, DDS
	Janine Randazzo, DDS
	Loc Vin Nuu, DDS
	Grace Yaghmai, DDS
	and others

 

These sweet children were hurt and abused and forevermore changed from as far back as 2006, and it’s finally making it to trial!  So, as a warning to all you dentists still employed there, don’t think your ass is out of a bind when you quit; cause it “ain’t”.  Not by a long shot!

Some of the dentists say the used their best medical judgment to provide dental care to the children suing them, but evidence indicates that isn’t even close.  In fact, it’s laughable! Evidence provided showed Koury Bonds, DDS and the others violated the “relevant standard on care” on several issues. 

According to the ruling, there is plenty of evidence these dentists prepared and recommend treatment without clinical justification and performed substandard care. 

They unnecessarily restrained children in papoose boards; extracted teeth that without clinical justification; failed to use local anesthetics, filled teeth that didn’t need to be filled; altering records; performing unnecessary baby root canals;(remember that $35 million dollar award a few weeks ago over unnecessary root canals?) failed to obtain proper informed consent for treatment from parents; just to name a few.  These guys knowingly and purposefully used informed consent forms that they knew did not meet the standards or guidelines of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD).

Now, haven’t I been screaming this as loud as I can for some 6 years now.  Everything I’ve uncovered and reported here about this horrible place is being proven to be the truth, and it looks like it’s going to be told in front of a jury, pretty damn quickly.

In the ruling the Judge states, “There…is ample evidence from which a jury could concluded that the defendants perpetuated a fraud on the plaintiff by treatment him and other Small Smiles patients not to meet his medical needs but as a means to maximize profits for the dentists, corporations and Individual Defendants.” (the DeRose crew)

More excerpts from the ruling:

“Email correspondence… demonstrates the overriding emphasis on profits.”  One such email between Michael Roumph and the lead dentists in the Albany NY clinic states “[p]roduction per patient needs to improve.” 

My secret meeting with Todd R. Cruse of Small Smiles Dental-Church Street Health Management

On September 20, 2010, I received an email from Todd Cruse, Church Street Heath Management’s SVP of Development and Government Affairs.

“I’ll be in Kentucky next month. Any interest in having a cup of coffee and conversation?’

After a couple of days I finally responded, “I do apologize for taking so long to respond.  I've been seeing to my daughter and granddaughter.  I was about to reply to your suggestion today when I received a phone call from my attorney telling me Thor Urness wanted my attorney to call him. Upon hearing that, I thought I should wait to hear back from this conversation that Thor requested.  However, I've not heard back.  Until I hear what Thor wanted, I'm not comfortable granting your request for coffee and conversation. However, I do enjoy a good cup of coffee and am open for conversation.”

Thor Urness is the Nashville attorney who Church Street Health Management hired to harass me in the Federal Court system since November of 2008.

Todd responded back, “Thank you for your response. If at some point you become comfortable and would like to have that cup of coffee just let me know.”

By September 29, Thor had never returned the call my attorney had made to him, so I emailed Todd and we made arrangements to meet up for that “coffee and conversation” he so desired. 

Todd said in his return email, “I believe that Thor was following up on the posts that you have since removed so I don’t think Pat will be hearing from him. I am flexible as to where to meet. I have to run up to Bowling Green on Thursday to pick something up - Any interest in meeting me there. I believe there is a Starbucks right on 231 off of I-65 (Scottsville Rd I believe?).Thanks for reaching out.”  He closed the email with “TRC”.

I agreed and the meeting was set for 10 am Thursday October 7, 2010.

FORBA Small Smiles Employees CIA Compliance Is Up To You; Includes Warning To Future Employees

ATTN:  All FORBA Small Smiles Employees

ATTN: Potential Employees: This is a must read before you agree to be employed by FORBA or any of its Small Smile clinics.  Full disclosure is a must!

FORBA has entered into a Corporate Integrity Agreement (CIA) with the Office Of Inspector General (OIG) after being caught red handed committing fraud and mistreating children.  (not only red handed but on video!)

Of course FORBA admitted no wrong doing as they will be quick to tell you.  However, anyone who would rather pay $24 million dollars plus interest and sign a 67 page set of rules to follow for the next 5 years, is probably guilty in my opinion.

[I would say FORBA was probably thinking this was a deal compared to what might happen if they didn’t agree and further delving into FORBA’s setup would likely reveal much worse things happening, that’s a scary thought isn’t it?]

When push comes to shove, it’s you, the employee on the front lines to see that the provisions in the CIA are followed.  I would highly recommend you download and take time to read the rules since you are the main one playing the game.  It’s your butt out there.  You may not have signed it, but you are as legally bound by this agreement as if...

More on Todd Cruse and His Testimony In Sen. John Ford Trial.

I thought I would post this since it gives a little background on just where Todd Cruse (divorced) actually came from and how he ended up at Forba. Something tells me someone on here just might need this info and find it useful.

Todd should be considered as SVP of Smooth Operations.  Since he certainly is a "smooth" operator.  He can almost make you believe what he is saying and buy what he is selling.  But it doesn't take long to smell what he is stepping in either....

Was Todd or Dan DeRose for that matter given some kind of deal to testify against Sen. John Ford?  We will probably never know.  I sure hope that was not the case.

At the time all this went down Don Sundquist was governor of Tenneesee and Toad (...LOL...sorry I mistyped then decided to just leave it,..sorry, Todd) Cruse was a top official in Sundquist's administration.
From Commercial Appeal:

By Richard Locker (Contact), Memphis Commercial Appeal
Monday, July 7, 2008
NASHVILLE — NASHVILLE -- The lobbyist for a network of children's dental clinics told jurors this afternoon John Ford was the only Memphis lawmaker he spoke with who would not help his company in its fight with Doral Dental Services to open a clinic in Memphis and that when he asked Ford for help, "He chuckled a bit and said, 'No, they call me Mr. 15 Percent'.''
That exchange between Todd Cruse, a top official in former governor Don Sundquist's administration and later a government relations executive with Forba Dental, occurred in 2003 outside the P.F. Chang's China Bistro in Memphis, Cruse testified.
Prosecutors are trying to prove that Ford used his influence as a powerful member of the state Senate on behalf on Doral Dental Services, with whom he had a consulting arrangement that the government claims paid him more then $400,000, through a firm called Managed Care Consulting Group in which Ford was the lead partner.
Cruse went to work for Forba in January 2003 after the Sundquist administration left office. He first worked on Forba's behalf through a lobbying firm called Public Strategies, and then moved directly to Forba's employment.
Soon after he left state government, Forba became embroiled in a bitter fight with Doral after Doral rejected Forba's efforts to join Doral's network of dental providers across the state that would allow Forba to serve -- and get reimbursed for -- TennCare recipients, primarily children.
That denial, Cruse said, occurred on the day in the spring 2003 that Forba had opened its first Tennessee clinic in Memphis at Knight-Arnold Road and Perkins. That turned out to be the only day it was open, Cruse said, because its business model was to exclusively serve low-income children who were covered by government-paid health insurance programs.
Up until that time, he testified, Forba believed it was en route to being approved by Doral, TennCare's sole contractor to administer dental benefits to TennCare recipients, for inclusion in its network of dental providers. Its dentist and the Memphis facility had been certified by Doral. The only reason Doral gave for the rejection was that its network in Tennessee's urban areas was "adequate."
Cruse said Forba launched a "multi-faceted" campaign to reverse the decision, meeting with black legislators whose constituents were Forba's primary patients, attempting to rally support among ministers and meeting with TennCare officials. That effort included at least two meetings with Ford, in his office and at P.F.Chang's, and a brief conversation in the Legislative Plaza hallway in Nashville.
Cruse said that House Speaker Pro Tem Lois DeBerry, state Rep. John DeBerry, and then-legislators Roscoe Dixon and Kathryn Bowers, all of Memphis, were generally supportive of Forba's efforts. But Ford was not. In the meetings, Ford attempted to lay blame on state TennCare officials rather than Doral.
After the meeting in Ford's office, Cruse testified, he said that Ford's general response was that "the whole situation was silly; it can't be Doral's fault, it was on the back of the TennCare Bureau. It was left open (at that time) whether he would do anything."
But at a later meeting in Memphis, at the restaurant, Cruse said he and other Forba executives told Ford that Forba was seriously considering filing a lawsuit against Doral. "He said it wasn't Doral's problem. It was TennCare's problem," Cruse testified.
Cruse testified the conversation continued as he, Ford and Forba executive Dan DeRose drifted out into Chang's parking lot and Cruse made a last-ditch effort to win the senator's help:
"I said we could really use his help, that the situation was dire. He chuckled a little bit and said, 'No, they call me Mr. 15 Percent."
Cruse testified later under cross examination by Asst. Federal Public Defender Isaiah Gant, Ford's defense attorney, that that remark stood out in his mind. "When a legislator tells you he is known as Mr. 15 Percent, it sticks with you."
Although there was no attempt made to explain the meaning of the statement, Gant attempted to discredit the phrase, getting Cruse to acknowledge that it did not "stick" with him enough for him to report it to authorities. But Cruse said that he had never heard another legislator make such a remark.
In his direct examination by Asst. U.S. Atty. Eli Richardson, Cruse said that at no time did Ford ever let him know that he was doing consulting work for Doral or had any sort of financial arrangement with Doral. He said that would have been good to know as he approached him for help on behalf of Forba, which was fighting Doral.
But under cross examination, Cruse acknowledged that there was no law requiring Ford to notify him that he was working for anyone.
In the final testimony of the day, Doral executive Robert W. Lynn testified how he first learned of his company's consulting contract with Managed Care Services Group -- in late 2004 as Doral was being acquired by DentaQuest Dental Services and Lynn was assigned to assess all of Doral's consulting contracts with an eye toward cutting costs.
Under cross examination, Lynn acknowledged that the firm had consulting contracts for business development in several states and that he was not aware whether Ford's work occurred inside or outside of Tennessee. One of the defense's arguments is that Ford's work was outside of Tennessee, which would apparently not have been illegal.
Under re-direct questioning by Asst. U.S. Atty. David Rivera, Lynn said that to his knowledge, none of the other consulting contracts were with sitting state senators.

April 2008 Small Smiles VP in Virginia

4-11-2008
Virginia Dental Advisory Commitee Minutes

Media Coverage of Medicaid Dental Clinics

Mr. Finnerty introduced Todd Cruse, Sr. Vice President of Small Smiles who addressed the Committee about the recent negative press events around the clinical treatment provided at the Small Smiles Clinics. Mr. Cruse referenced several news stories that ran on local and national television stations on the operations in several of his clinics around the country. He reported that some of the televised reports were false and misconstrued the facts.

Claims of misconduct by clinic dentists were investigated. Audit results were positive and Small Smiles has been reinstated by affected managed care organizations. Free care was provided to children during the period of network suspensions. Small Smiles has a new Chief Dental Officer, Dr. Steven Adair, who will work to ensure quality dental services in the clinics. The use of protective stabilization occurs in approximately 4% of the children treated in the clinics.

A hotline has been established for parents to call if they have any concerns about the dental treatment provided in any of the clinics. Dr. Chema reported DMAS had performed site visits and determined that the clinical operations in the three Virginia clinics appeared to be within acceptable standards of practice.

Well what did they think Todd Cruse was going to say? Did they invite, introduce or ask for statements for all the children or parents of children who Small Smiles has tied down and done unnecessary work on, well no!

Just more hogwash!

The above mentions a hotline for complaints... where is that number exactly and who gets that call, Small Smiles office!? Yes, as we can see from past behavior they police themselves very well.

What really kills me is that Todd Cruse, Mike DeRose and even David Meyer make all these blanket statements and fail to address the real issues.


Todd evidently failed to discuss the "training manual" that devotes a full page on how to separate children from their parents.

Todd didn't address just how many papoose board they have in each clinic.

Todd didn't mention the daily emails that go out telling each clinic the days quota they were expected to make.

It amazes me that when an "board" or "agency" investigates they ask the criminal instead of the victims!

How many victims have been invited to speak in front of these dental boards? Yet, Todd can get an audience with them... Just friggin amazing!