Family Awarded $11 Million After Wisdom Tooth Extraction Kills Son With Known Immune Condition
Won by Mazie Slater Katz & Freeman, LLC.
A Middlesex County jury found that a Perth Amboy oral surgeon committed malpractice by extracting a 21-year-old man's wisdom teeth without first obtaining medical clearance, despite knowing the patient had a hereditary condition that made routine dental trauma dangerous. Twelve hours after the August 2005 surgery, the patient's throat swelled shut and he suffocated. The jury cleared the referring family dentist and awarded the man's family more than $11 million against the oral surgeon. David Mazie of Mazie Slater Katz & Freeman represented the family at trial.
What happened
Francis Keller was 21 years old and living in the Hopelawn section of Woodbridge Township, New Jersey, when he went to have his wisdom teeth removed on August 4, 2005. Keller had hereditary angioedema, a genetic disorder in which minor trauma to soft tissue, including dental work, can trigger sudden and severe swelling of the hands, face and airway. He had been hospitalized only two months earlier, after his larynx swelled and he nearly suffocated.
Keller went to his family dentist, John Madaras of Fords, in late July 2005 with pain in his gums. Madaras told him the wisdom teeth had to come out and gave him the names of two oral surgeons. Keller chose George Flugrad, who practiced in Perth Amboy. Testimony at trial established that when Keller returned to Madaras's office days later for a cleaning, he mentioned his condition and the hygienist refused to work on him without medical clearance. She called his doctor's office, was told Keller could have no dental work until he was seen there first, and passed that on to him. The extraction went ahead on August 4 without clearance from Keller's treating physician. Twelve hours later, on the morning of August 5, 2005, his throat swelled shut and he suffocated.
Keller's mother sued on behalf of his estate in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Middlesex County, naming both Flugrad and Madaras. The case turned on a phone call the two men had on the evening of the surgery. Flugrad testified that Madaras called him about Keller and never mentioned that the patient lacked medical clearance, and that Keller himself had said he was cleared. Madaras testified that no conversation about Keller took place, and that he had called only to wish Flugrad a good vacation. Lawyers for each dental professional pointed at the other's client, and both sides put on expert testimony about the standard of care. David Mazie of Mazie Slater Katz & Freeman represented the Keller family; Joseph Cooney represented Flugrad.
After a trial in New Brunswick that ran about a week, the jury of four women and two men deliberated less than three hours over two days. It found that Flugrad committed malpractice by removing the wisdom teeth without getting clearance from Keller's doctor after Keller told him he had an impaired immune system, and it cleared Madaras of negligence. The jury awarded the family more than $11 million. Associated Press coverage and the Star-Ledger's trial report both put the award at that figure; two dental trade outlets reported the verdict as $10.2 million.
With interest added and the other settlements reached in the case, the recovery to Keller's parents came to more than $12 million, according to Mazie, who said at the time that the result was believed to be the largest in New Jersey history for dental or oral surgery malpractice.
No appeal has been reported in the years since. The case does not appear in New Jersey's appellate records, and the verdict appears to have stood.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
- 1.Insurance Journal (Associated Press), Mar. 9, 2009: reports the jury award of more than $11 million against Perth Amboy oral surgeon George Flugrad, names David Mazie as the Keller family's attorney and Joseph Cooney for Flugrad, and confirms the genetic swelling condition, the wisdom-tooth extraction, the clearance failure, the jury's clearing of the family dentist, and the deliberation of less than three hours over two days
- 2.DrBicuspid.com, Mar. 10, 2009: dental trade-press report naming David Mazie as the family's attorney and John Madaras, D.D.S., of Fords as the referring dentist cleared by the jury, identifying the condition as hereditary angioedema and the extraction date as August 4, 2005, and reporting the recovery with interest as more than $12 million (this report puts the verdict at $10 million)
- 3.AboutLawsuits.com, Mar. 10, 2009: places the case in the Superior Court of New Jersey for Middlesex County and describes the hereditary condition and the failure to obtain medical clearance (this report puts the verdict at $10.2 million with interest carrying the judgment past $12 million)
- 4.Mazie Slater Katz & Freeman, LLC (firm)
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