Legal Question in Medical Malpractice in California

Safeguard is my dental insurance carrier. I have been seeing a dentist, who sold his practice without notifing the insurance carrier or me the patient, that he is no longer my dentist. I developed a huge Periodontal infection over the weekend, and tried to go to my doctor, only to discover that he sold his practice and his patients info to a new dentist, who no longer takes Safeguard. Safeguard still has the old dentist listed as my dentist, and were unaware that the dentist is no longer practicing at the old location. I spoke with the dentist who orginally and negligentally abandoned his practice, and he would not give me his new work address. The old dentist wants to charge me $45 to get my old dental records copied so that he can retain the originals, when he is not even my dentist, but is retaining the records. I was diagnosed with stages 5 and 6 of Periodontal disease, after I went through hours of sufferring over the holiday weekend without an assigned dentist to take care of me, and hours over the phone trying to straighten out the mess of assigning a new dentist to handle my case, with Safeguard. Two dentists have looked over my old Xrays and saw that the problem started when I was under the original care of the first doctor, who never addressed the problem. Can I sue for Malprice and Negligence? Who can I report this too? Thank you... Christy


Asked on 9/08/10, 10:46 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Michael Wasserman Michael Wasserman, Esq.

The answer to your question is obviously yes that you can sue for professional negligence (malpractice) if your prior dentist that treated you over time failed to diagnose, treat and or refer you for periodontal disease. A determination has to be made of the deterioration of the bone supporting your teeth and gums regarding the amount of damage; i.e., whether you will lose teeth prematurely, need periodontal surgery, bone grafting, etc. You can always report the situation to the California Dental Board. A report to the dental board does not result in you receiving any compensation for your damages. The dental board, due to staff shortages and prioritizing claims takes years to do something and generally they only do something if there has been a violation of the laws and regulations governing the practice of dentistry. Professional negligence cases such as yours do not have high priority and action is only taken if there are multiple other patient complaints or what was done to you is considered an act of gross neglilgence. If you want to discuss your case, you may do so by contacting me. Contact Information can be obtained at my website: www.toothlawyer.com.

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Answered on 9/15/10, 10:36 am


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