The death of the patient triggers sanctions against a second Iowa dentist

Swisher, Iowa (Iowa capital office) -A second dentist from Iowa faces license sanctions related to a January 2024 dental procedure that resulted in the death of a 50-year-old patient.

The past fall, the Iowa Dental Board formally informed Dentist Robert Wolf of Swisher who intended to deny his application for a permit to use moderate sedation in patients. Wolf recently appealed that notice, and an audience is now scheduled for April 25.

In its notice recently revealed to Wolf, the Board declared on January 26, 2024, Wolf participated in dental surgery in the patient “JD”, after which the patient died. The Board alleges that Wolf “participated in this surgery” with an individual who had no license to practice dentistry “and that he did it without having the permission required to use sedation.

The Board also says that his investigation into the case indicates that Wolf “was the only dentist in the operating room on more than one occasion, while an advanced registered nurse administered and monitored anesthesia to JD”

Wolf, argued the Board, “facilitated the practice of a dentist without a license and supervised the administration of anesthesia without having adequate credentials.” The available Board documents do not identify the “Dentist without a license.”

Two weeks after the patient’s death, says the Board, Wolf requested a sedation permit.

In addition to the notice of intention to deny the permission request, the Board has not imposed other public sanctions against Wolf.

Wolf is Iowa’s second dentist to face disciplinary actions as a result of the procedure of January 26, 2024. Last fall, nine months after the patient’s death, The Board issued an emergency order Restricing the practice of Dr. Jonathan Karch from the Iowa dental study in Johnston. The Board alleges that Karcch participated in the procedure and that an investigation carried out on the one not specified revealed that Karcch “did not stay in the operation during the duration of the procedure.”

State regulations require that when a patient is under sedation and anesthesia services are provided, the dentist must remain in the room during the procedure, according to the Board.

By issuing the emergency order that restricts the ability to practice karch, The Board said “Recognize (KARCH) as an imminent threat to public security” and that “it should not be allowed to participate in procedures that involve sedation to an additional order.” The Karcch license to practice dentistry has remained without restrictions.

The Karch case remains unsolved. The Board has not published a hearing on the matter for October 11, 2024, but the Board has not yet published a final decision in the matter.

Demand for death alleges negligence

Separated from the actions of the licensing board, there has been a civil lawsuit against Karch, Wolf and others involved in surgery, all of which have denied any irregularity.

The lawsuit, filed at the Polk County District Court by Joseph Daniels’s family, alleges that on January 24, 2024, Daniels consulted with Karcch and asked about receiving dental implants. According to the demand, Daniels was 50 years old at that time, had smoked 1 ½ packages of cigarettes per day and had a history of hypertension and hyperlipidemia.

At the time of the consultation, Daniels’s blood pressure was allegedly pointed out as “of great concern” for Karch. The demand alleges that at a cost of $ 50,000, Daniels would receive the dental implants of Karch two days after the consultation, subject to an authorization prior to the process by the Daniels primary care doctor.

On January 25, Daniels was evaluated and authorized for Surgery by Dr. Anish P. Keshwani in UnityPoint Clinic Family Medicine of East des Moines, although the demand states, the medical records of UnityPoint indicate the “not controlled” hypertension of Daniels and hyperlipidemia would require “corrective actions before surgery”, such as the administration of prescribed medications.

On January 26, the implant procedure began at 7:15 am and was completed at 3:15 pm, with patient care allegedly delivered to the anesthetist registered certificate Nicky Newhoff, who was commissioned to wake up Daniels and start the recovery process.

The demand alleges that at 3:30 pm, a dental assistant notified Karch and Wolf that they were necessary in the surgical suite through a message that said: “Joe is not right, please see immediately.”

According to EMS’s medical records, paramedics were sent to Iowa’s dental study at 3:35 pm with a report by an “unconscious person.” According to the demand, the paramedics arrived at 3:40 PM and found Daniels in a “pale, cyanotic, fresh and insensitive” dental exam.

At 25 minutes of his arrival and the drug administration, the paramedics had intubated Daniels, and at 4:27 they had started compressions in the chest, says the demand. Daniels was taken to the Iowa Methodist Medical Center, where he died at 5:51 pm

Demand seeks real and punitive damage not specified by negligence. In addition to Karch, Wolf, Keshwani and Newhoff, the defendants of the lawsuit include Dental Studio of Iowa, UnityPoint Clinic, Coral West Dental and Heartland Anesthesia.

In their response to the lawsuit, the lawyers of the defendants argue that Daniels caused their own death that, according to them, arose from the pre -existing conditions.

A trial date has not yet been scheduled in the case.