A Texas family has been awarded $95.5 million after their then-4-year-old daughter suffered brain damage during a dentist visit in 2016 ABC 13 Houston reported.
After a three-day trial, a jury found former dentist Bethaniel Jefferson was negligent in her treatment of Nevaeh Hall drug-induced seizures and oxygen deprivation at the Diamond Dental Practice in Houston in January 2016.
According to a release from the family’s attorney, Nevaeh was improperly restrained and sedated during treatment for decayed teeth.
Nevaeh’s parents, Courissa Clark and Derrick Hall, claim that Jefferson kept the young girl, who’s now 10 years old, away from her mother after she started having seizures. Now since the visit, the 10-year-old requires 24-hour medical care as she can no longer see, speak, walk or eat on her own according to her family testimony at trial.
“The problem is the dentist has long since paid the pittance that she could pay. Now, we’re sitting here and we’re screwed,” Jim Moriarty, told the news station.
The jury’s decision now leaves Clark and Hall to figure out how to care for their severely-disabled daughter. Moriarty, said it could stop what happened to Neveah from happening to another child.
“This jury has heard more evidence of corruption in the Medicaid dental system than any jury in this country. After they heard that evidence, they came back with a verdict that said, ‘Your damages are huge.’ That’s more than a moral victory. That is a message to every crooked dentist in this country that if you abuse our vulnerable children, if you take advantage of them, if you steal from the taxpayer, we will hold you accountable,” Moriarty said.
Link to original The Black Detour