Employee complaint about dental office sanitation

http://news.com.au/national/dentist-clinic-operates-without-steriliser/story-fndo4ckr-1226483364907

Judge stops case where dentist sues patient for Yelp review

http://www.kval.com/news/local/Dentist-who-sued-patient-over-Yelp--171840671.html?m=y&smobile=y

Whistleblowers, we should all be one!

Whistleblowers Help Texas In Medicaid Fraud Cases

• by Becca Aaronson
• September 27, 2012

With the help of private whistleblowers, Texas has reaped more in Medicaid fraud settlements with pharmaceutical companies than any other state, according to a report released Thursday by Public Citizen, a nonpartisan consumer advocacy organization. 

“When I’ve spoken with a couple of other states, they definitely recognize Texas as a leader in enforcing pharmaceutical fraud,” said Dr. Sammy Almashat, one of the report's authors.

Texas has recovered at least $354 million in Medicaid fraud settlements from pharmaceutical companies since 1991 with the help of private whistleblowers, according to the report. Almashat said that’s because under Texas law, whistleblowers can receive between 15 to 25 percent of the financial penalties of a Medicaid fraud settlement for bringing the case forward.

Although 13 states have similar laws, “Texas is a unique case, because other states haven’t been nearly as active as Texas in taking advantage of whistleblower revelations in prosecuting,” civil Medicaid fraud, said Almashat.

“A whistleblower brings unique underlying knowledge about the fraud that was perpetrated by the defendant in the case,” said Daniel Hodge, first assistant attorney general. In all civil Medicaid fraud cases — including those against pharmaceutical companies and many others — in the last 10 years, Texas has recovered $880 million, said Hodge, and $373 million of that went to the state treasury. 

The whistleblower cases are entirely responsible for that $880 million, Hodge said, explaining that although the Inspector General at the Texas Health and Human Services Commission referred 12,000 criminal Medicaid fraud cases to the AG's office since 2002, during that same time, that agency only referred three civil Medicaid fraud cases.

Currently, a top priority at the AG’s Office is to pursue orthodontic and dental fraud in the Medicaid Program, said Hodge. The office has assembled the Orthodontic and Dental Fraud Task Force to combine resources at various agencies, including the Office of Inspector General at the HHSC. At least one case being pursued by the task force was referred by a whistleblower. 

Given the significant portion of the state budget that goes to Medicaid, “it’s more critical than ever for the taxpayers that we aggressively pursue any actors that defraud the taxpayers and recover those dollars,” Hodge said. “We’re thrilled that Texas has been recognized for [Attorney] General Abbott’s efforts to prioritize uncovering and recovering waste, fraud and abuse in the Medicaid program.”

Sun Orthodontix raided by FBI–Life in dental fraud is not as rosy as it used to be, is it?

We’re getting there… 

by BYRON HARRIS

Bio | Email

WFAA-TV

Posted on September 26, 2012 at 5:58 PM

Updated today at 6:18 PM

Story TimelineClick to open timeline

Related:

• More from News 8 Investigates

NEWS 8 INVESTIGATES

In the largest action to date, the FBI, state investigators and the attorney general have raided the offices of Sun Orthodontix.

Sun doesn't have locations in North Texas, but it was the second largest biller for braces under Medicaid in 2010.

Part of its huge growth in Texas is linked to Medicaid dental bills. News 8 found Texas dentists were charging taxpayers for putting braces on kids who didn't qualify for them under Medicaid.

Sun collected more than $9.6 million in 2010, according to state records.

FBI agents were part of Monday's raids at Sun offices, which stretch from El Paso to Corpus Christi.

"The FBI doesn't show up when they think you've committed a crime... they know you've committed a crime long before they show up," said Houston attorney Jim Moriarty, who is part of a whistle-blower case against Dallas-based All Smiles Dental Centers.

The joint raid is the largest action so far against a dental firm in Texas.

"I think you may see tens or hundreds of dentists who end up with civil or criminal charges against them," Moriarty said. "I think there is a tsunami of criminal action against crooked orthodontists in Texas."

No criminal charges have been filed against Sun or its dentists. But the company has been in a dispute with Medicaid. The state quit paying Sun Orthodontix earlier this year, questioning its practices.

Sun has taken the state to court for money it says it is owed.

E-mail bharris@wfaa.com

Ohio State Dental Board Compliance Manual

Remember the stories last week about state not inspecting dental offices for sanitation.

Ohio State Dental Board Compliance Manual

Mohamed El Deeb continues to have Minnesota dental license suspended.

Mohamed El Deeb, license number D9508, is no stranger to the Minnesota Dental Board:

November 6, 2008  - Stipulation and Order for Conditional License after a complaint that was serious enough to be referred to the Attorney General. (I guess the Minnesota dental board knows the right person to contact at the AG’s office there, unlike Texas, where they haven’t a clue)

The incident occurred in January 2004. They found “record keeping violations” – a great catchall, like “improper equipment for us motorists” – substandard care and “incorrect billing” – aka “fraud” as it related to three patients. Evidently it related to conscious sedation, as the board called in an expert for a report.

In 2005 there was another complaint. It too was referred to the AG. Somewhere along they reviewed 5 years of his records and found several items worthy of sanctions.

September 24, 2010 Dr. Deeb petition the dental board to have his license reinstated.  They did so, with no conditions attached.

September 7, 2012 – The board issued an order of a Temporary Suspension during a closed session.

September 17, 2012 – The board continued its Temporary Suspension

Don’t’ miss WFAA–TV–Byron Harris Report

I hear there was a raid by the FBI at a Texas Orthodontic clinic. Watch for Byron’s report. 

Think “Sun”shine!

Here’s a challenge -

Here is the Laffer Associates Study that says DSO’s (Kool Smiles, Small Smiles, etc)  perform less procedures per patient than private dentists. It also says they steal less than money per patient than private dentists. Ok, it doesn’t use the word steal…  but still…. 

You can find a link to the raw data at the bottom of page 5 of Laffer’s study. Or at their dropbox here.  Or this dropbox here.

WARNING – if you have a copy saved as an .xls file instead of a .xlxs your speadsheet does NOT contain all the data! 

Here is the challenge – Debunk it!

According to the study they found 35 Texas Providers Identifiers for Kool Smiles in Texas. Considering Small Smiles used at a minimum 25 provider numbers for 4 of their dental centers in 2010, I betting there were a whole lot more than 35  numbers used for Kool Smiles and their many clinics in 2011.  Hell, there are at least 55 “providers” in the Indiana Kool Smiles centers.  It might have been 35 that could be identified, for Texas in 2011, but that’s the point, isn’t it?

Laffer says this about the data:

Data and Methodology
We were provided Medicaid claims paid data for the fiscal year 2011 by Kool Smiles, who had received these data from the Texas Medicaid Program via a Freedom of Information Act request. We did nothing to verify the authenticity or accuracy of these data.
Before going into the results of our analysis, let me provide a few definitions. In Texas, Medicaid covers children in families from no income up to 185% of the federal poverty level for children up to 1 year old, up to 133% of the federal poverty level for children from 1 year old to 5 years old, and up to 100% of the federal poverty level from children 6 years old to 19 years old.

Thus, the data contain all Medicaid claims arising from children aged zero through 19 years, 11 months in families with income up to the applicable multiple of the federal poverty level (the federal poverty level is an annual income of
$18,530 or less for a family of three as of 1/1/12), regardless of what type of dental provider treated the child.

We counted as a procedure every separate dental activity that was charged to Medicaid with a Medicaid billing code.
Unfortunately, the data did not contain a separate total count of patients accessing dental services. Instead, unique patient counts were provided for each Medicaid billing code. To derive an estimate of the total number of patients, we added the number of patients treated via each code for a prophylaxis cleaning and used that count as our number of unique patients.

We used this procedure for all DSOs and all non-DSOs as well.
Prophylaxis cleanings, or “prophies”, are the standard dental cleanings that every patient receives as part of a routine dental visit.24 These dental cleanings, which are typically billed under the same code each visit, provide a more reliable method for this patient count than other routine services, such as exams, which might be billed under different codes and lead to double counting. There are three codes for prophylaxis cleaning, each based on age: D1110 for patients 13 to 20 years old, D1120 for patients 6 months to 12 years old, and D0145, 25 a code specific to the Texas Health Steps program, for children under 3 years old.

The Medicaid data we received contained a count of clients who received the procedure associated with each Medicaid billing code, broken out by location of dental service (see below). Summing the number of clients receiving each prophylaxis procedure thus provides a proxy for the total number of unique patients treated under Medicaid in Texas in 2011.

Accordingly, we use “prophies,” a routine procedure administered with regularity, as the count for unique patients, or “patients,” as we’ll refer to them in this analysis.

Additionally, the data quite naturally did not explicitly identify which dentists were associated with DSOs. The amount of reimbursement doesn’t differ for DSO dentists and non-DSO dentists. In order to receive reimbursements for treatment
performed on Medicaid patients, however, a dentist must apply for and be assigned a Medicaid Texas Provider Identifier (TPI) number. We made a list of all of the DSOs we could identify that do business in Texas, and any TPI that filed a claim using an identified DSO address was counted as being a DSO dentist (see Appendix A for a full listing of all DSOs included in our calculations). All other TPIs were counted as non-DSO dentists. In the process, we dropped the claims data for any TPI that filed with Texas Medicaid but was associated with an address that was not within or immediately bordering Texas.

An important caveat is that the total population of DSOs within the data represents office locations, and not individual dentists. In going through the data, we were unable to find multiple dentists working at the same DSO office billing
separately. With few exceptions for non-DSOs, it seems a rule that most group practitioners bill under a single base (7-digit) TPI instead of their unique and individual 9-digit TPI.

Basically, I read this to say “GIGO” – Garbage In – Garbage Out. So someone spent a hell of a lot of money for a report that means nothing and I mean nothing. Goes to show you though, tell a company what you need it to say, and they can get the data to make it so.

As well, these DSO’s work very hard to hide the fact they are operating as a DSO, since it’s illegal, so the number of non-DSO dentists numbers have to be distorted, right?  Like I said, GIGO!

Civil trial begins for Dr. Brain Seastrunk - accused in child death. Dr. Seastrunk is blaming nurse, Cynthia Jones.

Civil trial begins for doc accused in child death

By Craig Kapitan

Updated 10:57 p.m., Thursday, September 20, 2012

Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Civil-trial-begins-for-doc-accused-in-child-death-3882118.php#ixzz27R8SKe00

When 22-month-old Maddoux Cordova woke up from a routine outpatient dental procedure three years ago crying, thrashing and trying to remove his intravenous line, Dr. Brian Seastrunk approved two doses of morphine instead of Advil.

The anesthesiologist's decision, along with his failure to closely monitor the boy after the narcotic was administered, led to the child's death, attorneys for Cordova's parents told a civil court jury Thursday as testimony began in a malpractice trial.

Seastrunk's attorneys have countered that the nurse who requested and administered the drug — and therefore the hospital that hired her — instead is to blame. The hospital also has been sued but is not a party in the trial.

“As a doctor, the rule is you don't expose your patient to needless risk,” plaintiff's attorney Beth Janicek said during an opening statement in 37th state District Court. “That's what they live by. It was needless to order such a powerful drug.”

Cordova was found not breathing by his grandmother the afternoon of Dec. 11, 2009, about five hours after he was discharged from Village Specialty Surgical Center, according to court documents. He was revived by emergency responders but was brain dead, and on the day after Christmas the decision was made to take him off life support.

Gun toting dentist, Dr. Conrad Jim Kusel Jr. uses lethal weapon to keep staff under control during meeting. Lawsuit filed.

All the illegal dentistry happening in Florida, used to stay in Florida. Seldom did news come out about dentists arrests, going mad, or illegal corporate practice of dentistry. But boy, oh, boy, has that changed in the last two weeks!
 
LAWSUIT: Port St. Lucie dentist terrified worker with staff meeting gunplay
 

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- A lawsuit filed by a former employee claims a Port St. Lucie dentist waved a gun around at a staff meeting, telling staff to "sit down and stay in line."

Everyone agrees the dentist had a gun at work that day.Police reports show six detailed accounts of the same meeting. But the State Attorney's office here never pursued charges against the dentist -- Dr. Conrad Jim Kusel Jr. of the Kusel Dentistry practice in Port St. Lucie.

Lawyers for former receptionist Sunday Sack, a 13-year employee there, say she suffered post-traumatic stress disorder from the February incident in which she and others allege Kusel pulled the gun in an angry tone and said "everyone is going to sit down now and and I'm sure everyone is going to stay in line during the meeting, right?"

Sunday Sack: "That morning that gun was pointed and cocked it, and started to talk, I saw that vein, I saw that vein popping..I literally froze and basically fell down into my chair..I was like paralyzed."

Kusel's brother Brian Kusel is also a dentist there. The suit also names him for not intervening in the situation.

The lawsuit does not specify damages, but Sack says she planned to work there for the rest of her life and is seeking money for lost wages and distress. She's been attending counseling since the incident in February and says she was so affected, she spent months hiding in her own closet fearing for her life.

Sack is now on Social Security disability for her diagnosed trauma. In police reports, Kusel defended his actions by saying the gun was bought with money the staff had given him for the holidays, and he was showing off what he'd purchased. Since the gun-waving incident, three other employees have left the practice.

Imagine if Dr. Thomas Floyd had a gun in his office !!!  He would have shot children instead of jabbing them in the mouth with pliers and beating them in the stomach.

Dr. Tuan Vu – sentenced to 4 years in prison for fraud

Dentist Sentenced for Health Care Fraud

A dentist who lives in Arlington but practices in Alexandria has been sentenced to nearly four years in prison for health care fraud.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, 43-year-old Tuan Vu, who owns Cosmetic & Family Dentistry, PLLC, pled guilty in January to committing health care fraud. Court documents show that Vu admitted the scheme took place at least from January 2007 to September 2011, when he billed dental insurance providers for services he never performed on his patients.

Because of the scheme, more than 50 private insurance providers lost more than $2 million. The federal government and the Commonwealth of Virginia also suffered losses, including more than $300,000 to the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program and the Virginia Medicaid program.

Vu was sentenced to 46 months in prison, to be followed by two years of supervised release. Additionally, he was ordered to pay a $250,000 fine and more than $2 million in restitution.

More on the brutality of Dr. Thomas P. Floyd

This report on Dr. Thomas P. Floyd - West Palm Beach dentist- holds true to the first hand reports I've received. In addition, it was reported to me, that the police received complaints "a couple times a week" about abuse taking place in Dr. Floyd's office. His ex-wife is an orthodontist in the area. Some reports about this brutal dungeon master go back years. To think this man is walking free is infuriating! HE BEAT CHILDREN on a regular basis!!!!!

Thomas P. Floyd, West Palm Beach, Florida Pediatric Dentist, Arrested for Child Abuse

September 20, 2012 , by Elaina Robbins
Thomas P. Floyd, a West Palm Beach, Florida pediatric dentist, was arrested Friday after he was accused of handling one of his 4-year-old patients roughly, reports say. Floyd, 61, was booked into the Palm Beach County Jail on a single charge of child abuse. Officials also suspended his dentistry license following his arrest. It is unclear whether a bail bond was set for the defendant. It is also unknown whether Floyd has retained a private criminal defense lawyer.
Reports say that Floyd operated a pediatric dental office out of the 400 Executive Center in West Palm Beach prior to his arrest. His office specialized in dental care for children, teens, and young adults. However, earlier allegations about malpractice against certain patients reportedly surfaced in 2010. During one of those occasions, a 7-year-old female patient accused Floyd of placing her apron in her mouth during a procedure. The doctor reportedly did this to quiet the patient down. The girl apparently removed the apron, citing that she experienced difficulty breathing with it in her mouth. Reports indicate that Floyd did not face charges regarding this allegation.
In this more recent incident, a 4-year-old patient accused Floyd of striking him in the face several times during his appointment. The patient was not publicly identified by police because he is a juvenile. The case opened after a witness phoned police from Floyd's office, stating that a toddler in one of the office's examination rooms was making distressful noises. When detectives arrived, they located the frazzled boy, who reportedly explained to officers that "the doctor went pow pow on my face, and it hurt."
Investigators found that the child's lip was injured (Floyd purported was a result of the child nipping himself during the exam) and that the child's gums were inflamed. The mother took the child to St. Mary's Medical Center, where doctors located a small laceration under the boy's tongue. He also sustained several cuts to his lips and another cut to his gums. Investigators from the police department and Child Protection services cross examined the child and found the details to his story to be congruent.
A while after the incident, an employee at Floyd's office decided to speak to authorities regarding the boy's treatment. The witness, who remains anonymous, purportedly claimed that Floyd placed the boy on a medical stabilization board, which limited the child's mobility during his examination. He then attempted to perform a dental procedure, but the boy allegedly refused to open his mouth. Floyd then made several alleged attempts to open the mouth with what was described as an irritated mood.
During those purported attempts to open the child mouth, Floyd allegedly pried at the child's jaw with a pair of dental clamps.
However, the child reportedly spit the clamp out and the doctor attempted to force them back in, sources say. When that failed, the assistant alleged that Floyd "jammed" the child's mouth with a dental bit. At one point during the procedure, the assistant claimed that child's mouth began to bleed. The assistant then reportedly asked the patient in the waiting room to call police.

Shawn Zukosk Claims Dental Clinics did Unnecessary Dental Work

Shawn Zukosk Claims Dental Clinics did Unnecessary Dental Work

Submitted by Courthouse News on Sep 21, 2012

SCHENECTADY, N.Y. (CN) - A man claims in court that he was one of many children who received poor dental care at the 22-state "Small Smiles" chain, which federal and state governments accused of doing unnecessary dental work while taking "hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars."     

Shawn Zukoski seeks punitive damages from Smalls Smiles Dentistry of Albany, five other LLCs or corporations, seven dentists and others.     

The complaint states: "In 2010, top law enforcement officials from the Department of Justice and representatives of numerous state governments (including New York), announced that they had uncovered a nationwide scheme directed at infant dental patients and the Medicaid system.

A dental clinic chain known as 'Small Smiles', operating in twenty-two states including New York - performed unnecessary, inappropriate, unsafe and excessive dental procedures on young children. It received hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars."     

Zukoski says he was treated at the clinic in suburban Albany from 2005 to 2007, when he was 13 to 15.     

During that time, he says, he got 12 fillings, a pulpotomy and crown, two extractions, four temporary crowns and two root canals.     

Sometimes X-rays were taken and sometimes not, but "treatments that were needed, including steps to prevent decay or its spread, were ignored," he says in the complaint.     Zukoski claims he "received treatment ... that was below the applicable standard of care and caused him to suffer injuries" at the hands of defendants Small Smiles Dentistry of Albany, Albany Access Dentistry, and dentists Maziar Izadi, Evan Goldstein and Judith Mori.     

He also sued an umbrella defendant called Old FORBA and a handful of dentists and others who organized and served as officers of the entities that comprised it.  

Medicaid Dental Fraud–Possible Scammers include Rotten Dentists, Gov. Perry, His Contractors and the Revolving Door.

Possible Scammers Include Rotten Dentists,
Gov. Perry, His Contractor & the Revolving Door

Governor Rick Perry denounced Obamacare’s insurance exchanges and Medicaid expansions this summer. Calling Medicaid “a failed program,” he compared expanding it to “adding a thousand people to the Titanic.”1 Now it seems as though Perry may have known more about Medicaid failure—and steering that particular Titantic—than he revealed at the time.

READ IT HERE

Besides state Dental Boards not policing their dentists as they should, the Department of Health and OSHA are failing as well.

Dr. Thomas Floyd, the brute dentist in Florida, arrested two weeks ago for beating up a 4 year-old child, was also found to operate a dental clinic in extremely unsanitary conditions.  One parent I spoke with said Dr. Floyd would not sanitize the stainless steel crowns when he was trying to find the right fit – in one child’s mouth, then another’s. He didn’t change gloves from patient to patient, nor did he sanitize his instruments. When the state finally got off their butts and went to check on these allegation – allegation that had gone on for 5 years – they discovered his facility to be a hazard. (I hope all the children who have seen this dentist are receiving blood tests!)
It appears Florida is not the only state NOT checking on dental offices. South Carolina, another state that allows dental mills to run amok doesn’t check either. I bet they check tattoo parlors!

Dentists face no routine checks
September 20,2012

Written by 
Mike Foley
Staff writer

The South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation last year conducted 4,626 routine inspections of cosmetologists and barbers.
During that same time, the agency conducted zero routine inspections of the state’s dentists. The South Carolina Board of Dentistry — which falls under the agency’s jurisdiction — also conducted no routine inspections. The hands-off situation extended to two other state agencies: The Department of Health and Environmental Control and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Yet right now, while each of those regulatory boards handles some regulatory aspect over dentists or dental practices, routine inspections are not included.
The Board of Dentistry conducts licensing exams and annual registration of dentists, dental hygienists, dental laboratory technicians and ortho-technicians. It also, investigates complaints and conducts disciplinary hearings.
Under the South Carolina OSHA, dentist offices are subject to the federal safety standards such as the “Bloodborne Pathogens Standard” and guidelines for X-ray machines. Employees must safeguard themselves with gloves, face and eye protection and gowns, but no routine inspections are conducted for compliance.
This leaves the state’s dentists solely responsible for infection control in their own facilities, responsible for patient safety, for their own safety and for the safety of their staff. Yet, while some local dentists interviewed said precautions and regulations in place protect patients, they wouldn’t be averse to routine inspections.

Can someone be paid to be a jumping up and down idiot? Yes! Here’s proof.

If Pigs Could Fly And Dental Professionals Could Be Turned Bad By Private Equity Investment
Thomas A. Climo

A NONSENSE ARGUMENT MORE IN TUNE WITH LOBBYING THAN COMMON SENSE
On May 30, 2012, DrBicuspid.com provided an article written by Donna Domino, features editor. It was titled “Private equity firms eye big profits in dentistry.” Ms. Domino was the second journalist to reach out to me that month. The first was Sydney Freedberg of Bloomsberg, whose piece was “Dental abuse seen driven by private equity investments” on May 16.

Both journalists were nice, courteous, and consummate professionals. I want to make clear that although I believe I was very helpful in providing them with data and insight from my consulting of both group and solo dental practices, I did not say one negative word about private equity investment into dentistry.

A third journalist, Josh Kosman of the New York Post, will confirm this, even though he also wrote an article with the provocative title that replaced an “S” with a “$” entitled “Private equity firms $ink teeth into dentistry,” published August 27, 2010.

The exaggerations contained in all three articles tying private equity investment to bad dentistry are only anecdotal, and not supported by serious statistical numbers.

But…but…but “Equivalent PhD, Climo, you said, and I’ll quote:

“…private-equity firms are likely to work dentists longer once they take over practices to boost profits and that could lead to worse service.”

 

The Great Dental Surgery Fraud of 2012

The Great Dental Surgery Fraud of 2012
September 6, 2012

So, remember a while ago when I told you that Little Man had 13 cavities and would need oral surgery?  Well, that has turned into something resembling a three ring circus.  I will just say right off the bat that I don't really care for the dental office but we didn't have many choices for dentists who accept Medicaid.  They didn't do anything overtly wrong, per se, it was more of a mother's intuition.

After the appointment where they told me he practically needed a whole new set of teeth, a woman in scrubs (I have no idea who she was or what her job function is) whisked me into a conference room, had me sign a bunch of papers, called the surgery center and had an appointment for Little Man's surgery within a matter of 10 minutes.  Seriously.  I felt like I was at a used car lot!  Once I had finished signing the papers, scrub woman asked me who would be signing the consent for him to go under anesthesia.  I said that it would be his DHS worker since DHS is his legal guardian.  Fine, no problem.  They'd call her and get her to sign the papers, which they did.  His surgery was supposed to be yesterday.
The day before the surgery, as I am walking out the door with five children in tow to take two to their first day of school, my cell phone rings.  When I check the voicemail later, there is a message from Little Man's DHS worker but, because it was cutting in and out, all I got was something about her not being able to make it to the surgery the next day.  Um, okay.  I didn't think she would.  Then I received a call from the surgery center telling me that we would have to reschedule because the DHS worker was "unwilling" to sign over legal guardianship to me for the day so he could get surgery.  Um, okay.  What the WHAT?!  A judge is in charge of assigning guardianship...what is this woman talking about?!

Read this mom’s entire story on her blog “It’s a Vertical Life”

10 year old Marcos Tirado’s dad says no one tried to save his son

 

• Father claims no one tried to save his son
• Six Links of Survival @ RMBF

• TSBDE Letter: Patient Death/Injury/Hospital

• Dental Sedation Responsible For At Least 31 Child Deaths Over 15 Years

Heartland Dental–Rick Workman paid $3 mil to settle fraud charged in 2008; May 2012 they got their $3 million back

On May 23, 2012, Rick Workman breaks ground on a HUGE expansion for their corporate headquarters in Effing-no-where, IL. Part of the new facility will be for “training” purposes and I’m sure the psychiatric department will have new offices. Psychiatric department you ask? Yes, that’s what I’m told. If you can’t maintain your production numbers, they actually have psychologists come for a little chit chat. A little couch time, so to speak.

Now,less than 4 months later, Workman has put Heartland up for sale, asking price… a mere $1.4 BILLION dollars.

To here him tell it, he just leases the use of some appointment scheduling software, that he doesn’t even own, and does some payroll services for independent dental clinics. (liar, liar, pants on fire…) 

I’m sure the folks of Illinois are tickled pink to give Workman his $3 million dollars back for his “expansion”.  ( $3 mil is the EXACT amount Heartland had to pay to settle fraud allegations in 2008.) Did anyone hear the “Kennedy” tone in the voice?

HOMES 

In Effingham, IL Richard Eugene and Angie Workman’s home is located at 16130 Hildene Drive, Effingham, IL 62401

4-Year-Old Given Double Root Canal by School Dentist Without Parents' Permission

Posted by Jeanne Sager on September 13, 2012 at 9:57 AM

There's such a huge pile of forms to fill out when our kids go back to school that you kind of lose track: am I signing up to be a school trip chaperone here or am I signing my life away? You might be tempted to rush right through them all. But the story of a little boy was given two unnecessary root canals by a dentist in his school's art room -- without his parents being consulted -- should be enough to kill that temptation.

Stacey Gagnon did agree to let her son Isaac get a basic examination from a dentist at school. Who can blame her? It seems like smart parenting to me. Which is why what happened to this little guy is so scary.

Stacey and husband Darren say Isaac didn't "just" get a basic examination. They say a dentist who they'd never met took their 4-year-old into the school art room and performed not one but two root canals and put in two steel crowns. The Gagnons say no anesthesia was used to numb the little man's pain. Instead they allege that three adults held him down as he kicked, screamed, and gagged. Not surprisingly they say their son now has night terrors and a desperate fear of "the dentist man."

That right there makes me furious. There is no excuse for terrifying and torturing a child. Even if this were something the parents had said "OK" to, even if this were in a professional dentist's office, that's out of line. Kids deserve to be treated with the same care as adults.

But hold your fury. It's about to get worse: the Gagnons say they never received a call asking for the go-ahead to do these procedures, and a pediatric dentist hired by the Gagnons says he doesn't see why these procedures were performed in the first place.

So a child was tortured (because, yes, that's what a root canal without anesthesia is) for nothing? NOTHING? AND his parents weren't told?

I can't say for sure, but it sounds like some greedy dentist was hoping to make more money off of the school district. And picking a 4-year-old makes sense: they are so young they don't know to say no or ask someone to call their Mom.

But as the Gagnons wage a lawsuit against the dentist for malpractice, I keep going back to what Stacey agreed to for Isaac. It sounds like she was doing what we all do: saying, hey, sure, free medical care for the kid!

I know I sign my daughter up for a free in-school cleaning every year because it's added protection for her little mouth. Because we live in such a poor district, we can even get free fluoride treatments for our kids.

But the more I think about it, the more I realize the forms we get for these kinds of things from our school districts are pretty vague. Do we really know what we're getting our kids into when they're away from us for long hours and we can't step in to care for them?

I hope the Gagnons have a good lawyer who can sort this out and get some justice for little Isaac, but it's a good lesson to the rest of us to double and triple check those forms.

Do you allow your child's school to perform dental work on your kids? Does this story impact your decisions?

Head on over to 'The Stir” and read all the comments by moms.  Mom’s are outraged.