One family in Minnesota found out quickly that fatal accidents can occur even during a trip to the dentist. Back in 2015, Sydney Galleger visited her dentist, Dr. Paul Tompach, to have her wisdom teeth removed. Unfortunately, during the procedure, she went into cardiac arrest and later died as a result. Shortly after the tragic incident, the girl’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit, which just settled for $2 million.
Dental visits are a regular part of many of our lives. Whether we’re visiting for a yearly checkup or another type of oral procedure, most can agree that a trip to the dentist is a relatively routine process. Certainly, the last thing any of us think about when sitting in the waiting room is that something terribly wrong might happen during the appointment. Unfortunately, one family in Minnesota found out quickly that fatal accidents can occur even during a trip to the dentist. Back in 2015, Sydney Galleger visited her dentist, Dr. Paul Tompach, to have her wisdom teeth removed. Unfortunately, during the procedure, she went into cardiac arrest and later died as a result. Shortly after the tragic incident, the girl’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit, which just settled for $2 million.
But what happened? Having wisdom teeth removed is a relatively routine procedure, so how did the accident happen? For starters, the procedure “took place at Tompach’s Edina Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery office on June 9 at 9 a.m.” During the procedure, Sydney’s heart rate began “dropping dramatically between 9:15 and 9:20 a.m.” As a result, the dentist office contacted 911 and administered CPR “before paramedics arrived,” according to the lawsuit.
After an autopsy was performed, a medical examiner “ruled that Galleger died from oxygen being denied to the brain due to cardiac arrest.”
While Sydney’s family didn’t file a lawsuit against Dr. Tompach right away, they decided to go through with the process after learning that Tompach, who had “his license to practice suspended in January 2016 following their daughter’s death,” was “practicing again under the restrictions placed by the state’s Board of Dentistry just six weeks later.” According to earlier reports, those restrictions “were lifted in June 2017.”
So what did the family’s lawsuit accuse Dr. Tompach and his office of, exactly? Well, according to court documents, the lawsuit alleged “negligent and dangerous actions pertaining to administering anesthesia, and a failure to properly monitor the teen during the extraction.” The lawsuit also stated:
“The decision to place [Galleger] under anesthesia without using [the proper] monitoring equipment is negligent and dangerous. The evidence, in this case, will clearly and convincingly demonstrate that [Tombach] had deliberate disregard for the safety of his patients.”
The lawsuit itself was filed in Hennepin County District Court and “was scheduled to go to trial in May 2018.” At the moment Dr. Tompach teaches as a member of the faculty at the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry.
Sources:
Family settles $2M lawsuit in teen’s dental death
Now teaching and treating patients at U, dentist settles suit for $2M with family of dead teen
Join the conversation!