Hoverboarding was "outrageous, narcissistic you know, and crazy," former patient said.
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Hoverboarding dentist gets 12 years in prison for fraud, unlawful dental acts
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Lawyers defend people who are probably guilty all the time. It's the way the "adversarial" US system works. And probably tried to get a plea deal, this one doesn't sound like there was much prospect of acquittal. But the client is not obliged to take their advice. The lawyer still has to do the best they can.
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Yup. You don't go to prison for losing a civil case. (But he still can get sued by the victims too.)
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This was criminal, not civil, so you don't really settle. I guess you mean "accept a plea bargain"? If so, sorry for being pedantic.
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As a retired dentist, I can say that incompetent and arrogant crooks like this deserve everything he got and more. I know every occupation has a few of these people but that does not make me feel much better about the damage he has done to his patients and his profession. I hope they lose the key to his cell and never find it.
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He is a victim of the deep state. That's right I'll say it...an-TEETH-a!
I'll see myself out...
I'll see myself out...
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And Rand Paul, that practiced medicine without a license because he didn’t want to pay or get continuing education.
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Are there really people who need to be out cold under GA just for extractions? I've had Wisdom teeth extracted with just local anaesthesia and honestly it wasn't bad. Of course I could feel the dentist tugging at the tooth, but there was no pain at all.
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"Unlawful dental acts".
I thought there was going to be some kind of kinky sex involved but nope.
I did not know that there existed unlawful dental acts. Or lawful. Or a "dental act" at all, for that matter.
I thought there was going to be some kind of kinky sex involved but nope.
I did not know that there existed unlawful dental acts. Or lawful. Or a "dental act" at all, for that matter.
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Same. I had a wisdom tooth that had only partially cleared the gum and, being tucked out of reach of even the most diligent brushing, was starting to rot. Had it pulled out in my lunch break from work. Didn't hurt at all (note that '10' on my personal pain chart is 'passing 4mm kidney stone over a 4 day period when the morphine ran out* after 2' so YMMV!)
*more accurately, I was in China at the time and they are very touchy about giving people morphine - and equivalents - for any length of time (thanks British Empire!).
...
As for this particular dentist.... I know of a plant named Audrey II that would love to eat, um, meet him.
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$2 million? Alaska must pay way better than Texas and Colorado. I try to avoid sedating patients because it simply doesn't make any money.
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He let his board certification lapse. It was not required for him to practice in Kentucky. He maintained his medical license, as that was required to practice and to bill insurance, and in fact still has it. He's assisted with COVID response at a hospital in Bowling Green. He may be a political hypocrite, but he seems to be a competent physician.
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Except a competent physician would have self-isolated and masked up while awaiting his coronavirus test results.
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Hoverboarding dentist gets 12 years in prison for fraud, unlawful dental acts
Hoverboarding was "outrageous, narcissistic you know, and crazy," former patient said.
.......
Judge bites his tongue and clamps down with a sentence that carries some teeth
Found Beth's burner account. This is how she implants the puns the editors extract.
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It's in the first sentence.
The hoverboard thing doesn't amount to jail time. It's entirely malpractice and a civil matter.
The crime was fraud and unauthorized dental acts. The unauthorized dental acts were to sedate people excessively, or keep them sedated longer than necessary. The fraud was charging Medicaid for unnecessary procedures.
Sedation easily kills people, and it seems many patients who went to him were sedated unnecessarily. Excessive sedation's could easily have killed someone.
So, for that, and the fraud and the unauthorized acts (which might have included the hoverboard stunt, though it doesn't specifically say that), he was convicted and sentenced to 12 years in prison.
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Do dentists have to pass a legal and ethics unit in their training at any stage? Is there a way for immoral a-holes to be weeded out of professions like this?
Just thinking about what he did that bugs me the most,
Deliberately endangering patient safety for financial gain,
Defrauding medicaid at the cost of the rest of the community...
At any point in his life, personal and professional, did anybody point him out and say "That guy's an a-hole and shouldn't be in a position of responsibility?"
I understand there are bad people, but the idea that he got THIS far without intervention?...
Just thinking about what he did that bugs me the most,
Deliberately endangering patient safety for financial gain,
Defrauding medicaid at the cost of the rest of the community...
At any point in his life, personal and professional, did anybody point him out and say "That guy's an a-hole and shouldn't be in a position of responsibility?"
I understand there are bad people, but the idea that he got THIS far without intervention?...
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Legal? Yes. In every state I obtained a license I had to pass a pretty basic test on the dental practice laws in the state. Ethics? Sort of. I had 3 years of ethics course in school.
When it comes to weeding out the dirtbags in the profession, it's difficult. We are a self governing body, meaning the dental board can dish out penalties, make requirements of things to do to keep or get back your license, etc. but getting them to take action is very difficult. I practice near a doctor that is very clearly committing fraud and breaking the laws of the state. I approached a member of the dental board about how something like that should be handled, and I was told in no uncertain terms that I have no place filing a complaint against another dentist. Only a patient, guardian of a patient, or financially responsible party (insurance) can officially complain to them.
I suppose those rules exist for a reason (using the board to harass competitors has probably been done in the past I suppose) but I'm still left telling patients that I cannot do a certain procedure on them because somebody else billed it out without doing it, or has done garbage work on them and medicaid won't pay to replace it because it was only done a month ago.
Honestly, I think the only real fix is to make medicaid pay enough that more high quality dentists will participate and give patients more options as to their dentist. But let's be honest here, that isn't going to happen. Programs like DentiCal are straight up shit. Why would anybody with a half million dollars in student debt spend 30 minutes doing a good filling on somebody when they'd make like $10 from it?
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Beyond all of the other problems with mental healthcare in the US, don't doctors in the US face a strong incentive to not seek mental healthcare because then they'd have to disclose it to their medical boards and fear said boards pulling their medical licenses over it?
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Did he document the medicare fraud, or just the hoverboarding while dentisting. My guess is the medicare fraud drove the prison time. If it was just the hoverboarding he might have just lost his license.
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I don't know. He's literally riding a hoverboard and doing dentistry. What would you call it?
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The lawyer held his tongue rather than tell the client that he would have to tell the tooth, the whole tooth, and nothing but the tooth.
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Well, your brain generates all kinds of ideas. Like don't think of a pink elephant. Play on the highway. Always eat the chocolates you own then buy more. Always swipe right on Tinder. Hoverboard while drilling for teeth. Sedate patients for fun and profit, combine it with the hoverboarding.
Poor impulse control is when you cannot tell the difference between good ideas and bad ideas and just act on your impulses. You are missing feedback loops or lack the awareness to examine your actions.
It is very easy to get stuck in poor behavior reward cycles. After all, they get stronger the more you exercise the relevant brain pathways.
I think we can agree he has poor impulse control. I am sorry your particular impulse control is special and different and requires pity instead of condemnation.
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That basically doesn't happen, just to avoid the unnecessary time and labor, they will essentially always offer one. It might not be a very generous plea deal, but there's essentially always one on the table.
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While Medicaid fraud is a big deal, and performing procedures while balancing on an unstable surface is... well, stupid... I personally think that this punishment is on the harsh side. Technically, these are nonviolent crimes (although the risk of something going wrong with sedation is something to consider). Honestly, the punishment should be a fine equal to double the amount defrauded and referral to whatever board reviews the licensing/certification for dentists (a quick Google search shows that it looks like there are state licensing boards).
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$2 million bucks worth of fraud, with a side of reckless endangerment and a chaser of severe braggadocio, seems like a pretty heavy offense.
He was sentenced to 20 years, with 8 suspended. Seems reasonable. Also, in Alaska he'll be eligible for parole once he's served a quarter of his sentence, so it's very unlikely he'll spend anywhere near the 12 years he's been sentenced to.
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I simply happen to disagree... I feel that this should have resulted in a $4M fine, and referral to the state licensing board for revocation of his dentist license (which any sane observer would agree this man should no longer hold a dentist license, and other articles on other sites indicate that he has lost his business, and the loss of his license is pending but likely). As far as reckless endangerment, as nobody was known to have been injured, add community service hours. The bottom line is that our justice system, as a whole, is too reliant on simply locking people up for years on end.
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I'd agree that sentences like this one ought not to be handed out for minor crimes like shoplifting, or selling joints. But this is far beyond such crimes, and seems appropriate given the severity and magnitude here. If someone can just buy their way out of punishment, there's little in the way of deterrence and nothing in the way of punishment to be had.
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That's the thing though: His private practice? Toast. He'll most likely never be able to work as a dentist again. Making him pay back double his ill-gotten gains has the legitimate potential to be a serious burden. Plus there are a number of civil suits pending against him. Tack on community service hours (like... 4,000 hours, which would take 100 weeks of doing 40-hour weeks of just community service, so nearly 2 years worth of full-time community service work), and I personally think that should be sufficient. According to other articles about his sentencing, he has expressed remorse for his actions, it's not like he "needs to be taught a lesson".
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I’m sure there’s some reality show that follows people trying to rebuild their lives after they’ve blown up their careers and a few other things. I just don’t want read about this guy becoming a preacher. The GOP is always hiring though.
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Sorry, but he endangered his patients for the sake of shoveling money into his own pocket. It's likely he'll simply find another way to take advantage of people without a stiff deterrent.
Maybe I'm being overly aggressive here, but I've pretty much had it with what seems to be a notable increase in sociopathic behavior of late, and this seems to be yet another example of it.
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You're reaching here. The question of whether or not to go to trial isn't always up to the lawyer. You can try to settle civil cases, but you can generally expect that you won't get that option for criminal cases.
Most lawyers don't think "he's guilty, so I won't take his money ", they think “He’s going to trial and he needs legal representation to help him make his case, the judge and jury decide guilt, so I can try to represent him to the best of my abilities “.
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I don't know about your experiences, but in my experiences most people don't have $4 million just lying around easily accessible. He'd likely have to sell most of his belongings/assets to get that much (and that's before the civil suits I mentioned). Also, being on the hook for effectively a solid 2 years worth of community service is pretty stiff as well. Locking him up for a decade doesn't do much to better society, it just takes him out of it for an extended period of time. Prison should be reserved for violent offenders who cannot be trusted to walk among the rest of society, not a guy who found a way to get rich(er) through fraud.
Imagine how much better our country could be if nonviolent offenders like this guy, instead of being simply locked away for years were used for roadworks projects, or expanding fiber-optic Internet access to more rural areas.
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I don't know what it is but DENTISTS from my experience were the most unethical. We had one who wanted us to take the drill bit home so it would be our own personal one and then bring it back so he could use it on us again. Another one I went there and he was fake friendly and then i go there again and his is closed permanently.
Last one and this is your typical factory dental office. He says oh here's another cavity. I said, "Didn't you do a full xray exam and catch that?" There was food around it. I said, "Doesn't Xrays go through food?"
Factory opticians have been a dismal failure too.
Last one and this is your typical factory dental office. He says oh here's another cavity. I said, "Didn't you do a full xray exam and catch that?" There was food around it. I said, "Doesn't Xrays go through food?"
Factory opticians have been a dismal failure too.
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