The family of a 4-year-old Oregon child who suffered severe brain damage after being put under general anesthesia before a dental procedure has filed a $22 million civil suit against the dentist.
The medical negligence lawsuit filed on July 30 in Multnomah County Circuit Court alleges that the child, identified as M.L. in the document, overdosed on sevoflurane, which made the heart to briefly stop beating until the child was resuscitated.
The episode left the child so severely brain-damaged that the child must relearn how to walk and talk, the lawsuit says. The dentist, Dr. Dustin M. Davis, the anesthesiologist, Lane D. Robinson, and Sunnyside Dentistry for Children, the office where they worked, are named as defendants.
Lawyers for the family said they have not received a response to the lawsuit.
M.L. visited Sunnyside Dentistry on July 24, 2024, for a routine dental procedure to address some cavities, the suit says, and the child was given anesthesia under the direction and care of Davis, the office’s pediatric dentist and surgeon, with assistance from Robinson.
The procedure was done despite reservations from one of the child’s parents, the lawsuit says.
Shortly after being administered the anesthesia, the child went into cardiac arrest in the dental chair and was resuscitated using chest compressions and epinephrine injections, the lawsuit says. The child was then taken to a hospital.
“The defendants failed to adequately monitor M.L.’s vitals or respond to signs of distress, allowing (the) heart to stop,” the suit claims. “As a result, M.L.’s brain was damaged due to a lack of oxygen.”
The child had visited the office to have several cavities filled, according to the family’s attorney, Kirc Emerson. The child had come to the practice a few months prior, at 3 years old, and Davis had attempted to use nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas, to perform the procedure. But the dentist recommended coming back at another time to use general anesthesia, the attorney said.
He said the family never received an explanation as to why Davis did not go through with the procedure using nitrous oxide.
M.L.’s “childhood has been materially altered because of this,” Emerson said, adding the child spent six weeks in the hospital and despite being back home, has not fully recovered.
The lawsuit states that the dental procedure began at 5:51 a.m. and by 6:12 a.m., M.L. no longer had a pulse.
Robinson, the anesthesiologist, declined to comment Monday when reached by phone.
“I would love to give you my side of the story, but I think it would be much more wise if I deferred to my attorney,” he said. “I’m sure you understand the delicacy of the position I’m in.”
Robinson would not provide his lawyer’s name, and Davis could not be reached for comment. It was not immediately clear whether he had retained an attorney. Sunny Dentistry for Children did not return phone calls seeking comment.
Davis has no record of malpractice violations, according to the Oregon Board of Dentistry. He has served as Sunnyside Dentistry’s practicing dentist since 2021, according to the company’s website.
He previously spent five years practicing pediatric dentistry in the Seattle area.
He earned a doctorate in dental surgery from Virginia Commonwealth University and completed his residency at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he specialized in pediatrics. He also earned a master’s degree in oral sciences at the University of Illinois.
The lawsuit says M.L. can no longer sound out words, write, dress or use the bathroom without help.
The child has “regressed back to being an infant and has had to relearn all basic functions,” such as talking and walking, the lawsuit says.
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