Virginia Beach Malpractice Attorney Report – Death of 9-year-old during Dentistry Sparks Calls for Change

By John Cooper, Virginia Beach Medical Malpractice Attorney

It’s been four years since a 9-year-old girl from Virginia Beach died undergoing a routine dental procedure, but a foundation created in her memory is keeping up its campaign for changes in dentistry.

Raven Maria Blanco died while undergoing a “routine dental procedure while under sedation.” WVEC.com reported,

The Raven Maria Blanco Foundation wants stricter standards for dentists when they sedate patients.

See this video about the foundation.

“The foundation wants dentists to adopt what’s being called the six links of survival: dentist training, staff training, mock drills, maintaining a written emergency plan, stocking appropriate medications and maintaining appropriate equipment,” WVEC.com reported.

The foundation points to 12 patient deaths in the U.S., including a death Richmond, VA. These fatalities occurred during or just after dental treatment in 2010 and 2011.

And in Feb. 2012, a three-year-old boy died in New Jersey under local anesthetic for a routine cavity-filling procedure. It was the second time a child had died in the care of the same dentist.

As experienced Virginia Beach malpractice attorneys we are alarmed by this series of child deaths and our thoughts are with the families. Despite the four-year campaign waged by the family of this tragic Virginia Beach girl, children are still dying during routine procedures.

Mario Blanco, the father of Raven Maria Blanco, commented in 2010: “There is a problem with in the dental profession with medical preparedness.”

When children die undergoing routine dentistry, clearly something has gone badly wrong. Dentists, like other healthcare professionals need to be held fully accountable in the courts.

DM

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