SHOCKING! Ethics in dentistry has declined.

A study published in the October issue of the Journal of Dental Education reports ethics has declined in dentistry.  Shocking!  In fact, what actually qualifies as “ethics” education seems to have changed.  Shocking!  This information was developed by the authors, listed below and administered by the American Society for Dental Ethics.  American Society of Dental Ethics!?  Who knew?! 

I’m wondering if this “Ethics Society” was the impetus to the decline in and redefining of ethics education.  Wonder what kind of influence the dental mills and the Dental Group Practice Association (DGPA ) (see below) have of the ethics curriculum?  Ethics is something the mills certainly do not want practiced, it hinders production!

Jurisprudence must be in worse shape than ethics, considering all the illegal dental mills openly operating these days!  I wonder if there is an American Society of Dental Jurisprudence?

This study was done with data from 2008.  2011 is damn near over!! 

Now on with the abstract of the Study:

Abstract:
The survey was sent to the individual who directs the ethics curriculum at the fifty-six U.S. dental schools that had a full complement of enrolled pre-doctoral little time is devoted to ethics instruction in the formal curriculum.classes as of January 2008.

All fifty-six schools responded to the survey. The data suggest that, in general, little time is devoted to ethics instruction in the formal curriculum. The mean number of contact hours of ethics instruction is 26.5 hours, which represents about 0.5 percent of the mean clock hours of instruction for dental education programs reported in the most recent American Dental Association survey of dental education. While the amount of time devoted to ethics instruction appears not to have changed much over the past thirty years, what has changed are what qualifies as ethics instructionwhat has changed are what qualities as ethics instruction, the pedagogies used, and the development and availability of norm-referenced learning outcomes assessments, which are currently used by a number of schools.

Oklahoma–18 year old Jonathan Adams dies from infection after root canal

KOCO
HARRAH, Okla. -- Former Harrah football player Jonathan Adams died Monday, Oct. 10, 2011 after he developed a rare infection following a root canal, his family told Eyewitness News 5.
When Adams, 18, first developed a sore throat and fever, doctors thought the Northeastern State football player had strep throat. However, his family now believes he had a serious and rare bacterial infection that led to further complications and his eventual death.
“The main reason we wanted to (speak to the media) is so nobody else has to do this because if I can keep another parent from going through losing their child at 18, I did my job," said Johnie Adams, Jonathan's mother.
Adams was a 280-pound redshirt freshman on the Northeastern State University football team. His father, David Adams, said he hoped to have a future in football after he graduated from college.

Real dentists sharing real thoughts about sealants, dental mills, waste and fraud

   
Dentist 1:

It’s all designed to fool the taxpayer.  Politian's get into trouble for overspending.  They cut services, in this case Medicaid reimbursement fees for dental treatment. To keep the special interest happy, they agree to cover another procedure, everyone’s happy.

I work in an office (corporate mill) that takes Medicaid- MassHealth-in my state. which covers sealants on primary molars.  In my opinion, I think sealants on second primary molars (first primary, very rare) are beneficial in only a small percentage of cases; high risk, deep grooves, ability to obtain good isolation, etc.

Here's what I find troublesome and wasteful from a taxpayers point of view.
- We routinely seal all primary molars up to the age of 8, even on low risk patients with shallow grooves
-  90% of the time dental assistants place them alone with poor isolation.
I only do sealants when I have good isolation.  95% of the time I use my Isolite.  
With my criteria, I rarely seal primary molars. 
The dentists who do treatment plan sealants on a 3 year old, that will not even remain still for an exam or cleaning are wasting tax dollars in my opinion.  I do see pressure for assistants to do them from the corporate headquarters.  Corporate heads want a “sealant” report daily.  That irks the hell out of me.  It irks me even more when the dentist is not busy at all and still let's the assistant do them alone!

A buyers assistance program I could sink my teeth into

If only there could be a dental mill clinic crises.  Like the one in the housing market; saturated with empty dental mill clinics. Now there is a buyers assistance program I could support.

As one dentist recently said, “When the money for general dentists doing the small kids disappears, the mills will be gone. There are 4 dentists on every corner. Being a practice broker is where the money will be when these mills close down.”

I can dream.

“Owner Dentists” banded together and won $130 million

Had I read this in 2007 or even 2008 I might have believed the whole scenario laid out in the lawsuit between Park Dental Group and American Dental Partners. But knowing what I know today I think it’s a case of “owner dentists” going rogue, but I could be completely wrong. 
In 2007 a Minnesota jury awarded a group of dentist $130 million dollars.  The group alleged American Dental Partners, Inc. had overstepped its bounds when it came to the treatment of their patients.  Disappointingly, the jury failed to address the claims of a corporation/non-dentist practicing dentistry without a license.  However I suspect one could say the monetary award spoke volumes.

I guess it could be a case of the smaller dental group decided to become their own “management” company and screw the Wall Street folks. But as long as dentists own the clinics, are making the decisions and delivering the treatment I don’t see a need for real concern, do you?

Star Tribune
December 13, 2007

In a landmark verdict likely to draw praise from those opposed to the growing corporate presence in medicine, a jury ordered a Massachusetts company to pay $130.6 million to a group of Twin Cities dentists who claim the company interfered with their delivery of care to patients.

A Hennepin County jury ruled Wednesday in favor of PDG PA, a professional association of 115 dentists who operate the Park Dental and Dental Specialist clinics. The dentists had accused American Dental Partners Inc., a public company to which they had outsourced most of the administrative side of the business, of overstepping its legal authority and granting itself grossly excessive fees.

[I’m wondering exactly what that grossly amount was, 100% as with CSHM]

The ruling and the mammoth award will have far-reaching implications for thousands of clinics and hospitals nationwide that in recent years have outsourced the management of their business operations to corporations that aren't owned by medical professionals, industry analysts said.

"It puts in sharp relief the tension that exists in the health care industry over who controls the practice of medicine and dentistry," said Joseph Anthony, an attorney with Anthony, Ostlund & Baer, which represented the dentists. "Will it be the doctors or will it be non-doctor-trained service providers?"

After a month long trial, American Dental and a subsidiary were found liable for, among other charges, breach of contract, breach of good faith and defamation. Late Wednesday, the jury ordered the company to pay $88.3 million in damages, then added $42.3 million in punitive damages on Thursday.

American Dental, based in Wakefield, Mass., said in a written statement that it is evaluating the verdict. Officials did not return repeated telephone calls. Shares of the company tumbled Thursday to $4.62 a share from $14.34 a share a day earlier.

The verdict stems from a dispute over a 1996 agreement in which an American Dental subsidiary, PDHC Ltd., agreed to provide the dentists with money for expansion as well as "non-dental administrative services," such as accounting, lab services and equipment maintenance. In return, the dentists agreed to pay a portion of their billing revenue to American Dental in the form of a "service fee."

[Honestly, I’ve got to give a huge thumbs up to whom ever “spun” this one.  There are lessons to be learned here, I’m sure]

Dentistry Whistleblower DEAD

Remember last year when it was revealed a VA clinic in Ohio was using less than sterile conditions.  There was an uproar!

Well, the dental lab technician who blew the whistle on died Saturday in a one car accident.

By Thomas Gnau, Staff Writer Updated 10:37 AM Sunday, October 16, 2011

BEAVERCREEK — A dental lab technician who helped call attention to poor infection-control practices at the Dayton VA Medical Center last year was killed in a one-car accident in Beavercreek Saturday morning.

Wallace “Ray” Perdue of Fairborn was killed after the car he was driving left the road and struck a tree in the 2200 block of Kemp Road, just west of Beaver Valley Road, at 11:54 a.m. Saturday, according to Beavercreek police. He was 45. Police said he died at the scene.

His wife, Sherry Perdue, was also in the car. She was examined at Miami Valley Hospital after the crash, then discharged on Saturday, a hospital spokesperson said.

The Perdues, along with a third whistle-blower, told VA inspectors in the summer of 2010 about dentist Dr. Dwight Pemberton’s failure to sterilize instruments and change latex gloves between seeing patients.

In the aftermath of the Perdues’ allegations coming to light, the VA closed its Dayton dental clinic for three weeks and offered testing for hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV to 535 former patients of Pemberton’s.

Small Smiles Dental Centers Continue SLAPP’ing Grandma of 9

Demonstrating their ruthless style of business-preying on the most vulnerable of citizens-Church Street Health Management is continuing to SLAPP a Kentucky grandma  for voicing her continued dislike of the company’s business practices,

In 2008 Church Street Heath Management, LLC- then known as FORBA Holdings, LLC- brought a first amendment lawsuit, referred to as a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) against one of their many critics.

In January 2010, Church Street Health Management agreed to pay upwards to $30Mil to settle allegations of abusing children, overtreatment and Medicaid Fraud.  CSHM was also forced to sign a “Quality of Care” “Corporate Integrity Agreement” with the Department of Health and Human Services. 

Being the “low hanging fruit”, CSHM and their corporate owners, the Carlyle Group, First Islamic Bank-now known as Arcapita Bank and American Capital Strategies, have once again brought this unrepresented grandmother of 9 back to court in Western Kentucky. 

On October 17, 2011 at 10AM a hearing will be held in Federal Court.  CSHM has motioned the court to find grandma in Contempt of Court; asking the retired grandma to be fined $10,000 and pay an exorbitant amount of legal fees.  In their court pleadings, CSHM mentions possible jail time as a remedy to satisfy their intent to suppress grandma’s 1st Amendment rights to free speech.

CSHM also wants the court to force grandma to reveal the identity of current or former employees with whom she has had contact.  Doubtful it’s to pat any of those person’s on the head for doing such a good job in keeping them honest.

 

November 2008 Original  Complaint - FORBA v Hagan
December 2008 -CSHM's 1st request for Santions  2008(denied)
April 2009 – CSHM’s Motion to Dismiss (granted) 

July 2011 CSHM Motion for Sanctions
July 2011 Declaration of Todd Cruse
July 2011 Memorandum in Support of Sanctions

September 2011 Grandma's Combined Response to CSHM’s Motion for Sanctions and Motion to Dismiss
September 2011 Grandma's Memorandum in support

Church Street Health Management, LLC is located in Nashville, Tennessee at:618 Church St # 520
Nashville, TN 37219-2457
(615) 750-0306

 Members and Officers of the Church Street Health Management, LLC are:

Officers:
Michael Lindley-Chairman & CFO
Rodney Cawood-EVP & Chief Financial Officer
Al J. Smith- President, COO and Secretary

Members:
Dr. Steve Adair
Bret Bero – American Capital.
Scott A. Buschmann – Arcapita Bank
Stockton Croft – Arcapita Bank
Charles L. Griffith – Arcapita Bank
Susan B. Kasser- Carlyle Group
Douglas Kelley – American Capital
Michael G. Lindley – Small Smiles Holding, LLC
William C. Miller, Jr – Arcapita Bank
Al J. Smith – Small Smiles Holding, LLC

 

Arcapita Bank is headquartered in Bahrain, while the Carlyle Group is the third largest private investment group in the world with assets of $150 billion dollars. In March 2008, Carlyle Capital Corporation defaulted on about US$ 16.6 billion of debt as the global credit crunch brought about by the subprime mortgage crisis worsened for leveraged investors. (Wikipedia)

American Dental Partners Lawsuits thru June 2011

From EDGAR online

American Dental Partners, Inc. ( NASDQ: ADPI) Lawsuits thru June 2011

Stockholder Litigation

On or about February 22 and 23, 2010, Special Situations Fund III L.P., Special Situations Cayman Fund, L.P., and Special Situations Fund III Q.P., L.P. excluded themselves from the class action settlement resolving consolidated actions entitled “In re American Dental Partners, Inc. Securities Litigation,” civil action number 1:08-CV-10119-RGS, and filed an opt-out complaint in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, against us and certain of our executive officers, entitled “Special Situations Fund III, L.P. et al. v. American Dental Partners, Inc. et al.,” civil action number 1:10-CV-10331, which we refer to as the Opt-Out Action.

The Opt-Out Action complaint (i) asserts that the plaintiffs purchased over 500,000 shares of our common stock during the period of February 25, 2004 through December 13, 2007; (ii) alleges that we and certain of our executive officers violated the federal securities laws, in particular, Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder, by making allegedly material misrepresentations and failing to disclose allegedly material facts concerning the lawsuit by Park Dental Group against our subsidiary, PDHC, Ltd., entitled PDG, P.A. v. PDHC, Ltd., Civ. A. Nos. 27-CV-06-2500 and 27-CV-07-13030, filed in the Fourth Judicial District of Hennepin County, Minnesota on February 3, 2006 and conduct at issue in that action during the period of February 25, 2004 through December 13, 2007, which had the effect of artificially inflating the market price of our common stock; (iii) asserts control person claims under Section 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act against the executive officers named as defendants; and (iv) claims that certain of the alleged misrepresentations also violated Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act.

The plaintiffs seek an unspecified amount of monetary damages, costs and attorneys’ fees and any other relief the Court deems proper. We are unable to provide a range of potential damages with respect to this action.

On June 11, 2010, we and the other defendants filed a motion to dismiss the Opt-Out Action. On March 31, 2011, the Court denied the motion to dismiss with respect to the Section 10(b) and Section 20(a) claims, but granted the motion to dismiss with respect to the Section 18 claim. We intend to defend ourselves vigorously with respect to this matter.

Youngstown, Ohio Small Smiles Dental Center Dentist Has Hair Pulled by Patient

October 12, 2011
By JOE GORMAN - reporter (jgorman@tribtoday.com) , Tribune Chronicle | TribToday.com

YOUNGSTOWN - An Idlewood Avenue woman reportedly unhappy with work on her tooth was arraigned Tuesday in Municipal Court on accusations that she pulled her dentist's hair and wouldn't let go.

Cassandra Allen, 21, was arraigned on two counts of assault. Judge Elizabeth Kobly set bond at $10,000, as well as ordering that Allen have no contact with the Small Smile Dental Center on Mahoning Avenue or any of its employees.

Police reports state that Allen went to the office about 9 a.m. Monday, upset over some work done on her tooth. A dentist tried to help her, but several times during the process, Allen complained, the report states.

Connecticut dentist paying the price for Medicaid fraud–Dr. Kristi Rossomando

Dentist pays for making false claims to Medicaid

WTNH TV
Updated: Tuesday, 11 Oct 2011, 4:42 PM EDT
Published : Tuesday, 11 Oct 2011, 4:42 PM EDT

New Haven, Conn. (WTNH) - A New Haven dentist is paying over $200,000 for making false claims for services provided at her dental office.

Kristi Rossomando, D.M.D and her dental practice, The Children's Dental Group, P.C., located at 825 Grand Avenue, have entered into a civil settlement in which they will pay $212,000 to resolve allegations that they violated the federal and state False Claims Acts.