Late yesterday, the first of what may be many lawsuits was filed against Scott Harrington, the Tulsa dentist and oral surgeon who is accused of exposing thousands of patients to hepatitis and HIV as a result of his unsanitary practices. Christina Quin of Tulsa claims that she got horribly sick after Harrington removed her wisdom teeth in 2009--and now believes Harrington is to blame.
This plaintiff knows she's virus-free, but says she still suffered at Harrington's hand.
Attorney Patrick Carr said his client filed a negligence lawsuit against Harrington as a matter of public safety.
"She's a very private person, she lives a private life with her family and she wants to keep it that way, but she's taken the step forward here, because she realizes this is very important," Carr said.
Harrington removed the plaintiff's wisdom teeth in 2009. The lawsuit says she developed an infection, rash, high fever and liver problems in the weeks after the extraction.
"She did receive an infection, because of the improper sterilization techniques," Carr said. "Thank goodness, it wasn't one of the more dreaded things, like hepatitis or HIV."
The lawsuit,
viewable here, alleges that Quin received sedation from one of Harrington's dental assistants prior to having all four wisdom teeth removed. She was in pain for several days after the extraction, and a follow-up visit to Harrington revealed an infection. However, she still didn't improve after several follow-up visits, and went to see her primary care physician, who diagnosed her with a liver infection. She didn't think anything of it until two weeks ago, when the story of Harrington's unsafe and unsanitary practices first broke.
Quin claims that Harrington failed to adequately sterilize his tools and equipment or follow proper infection control procedures. The strongest claim, to my mind, is that Harrington allowed an assistant to administer sedation in violation of Oklahoma law. According to a story aired last week on KOTV in Tulsa, Harrington's assistants essentially flew by the seats of their scrubs when administering anesthesia. Their only real guideline was how heavy the patient looked. To find out if a patient was out, assistants just asked questions or flicked their eyelashes.
Harrington is almost certain to lose his license when he goes before the state dentistry board on April 19. Hopefully Quin's suit triggers a flood of litigation--this guy deserves to be sued into poverty.