A Texas family is preparing a lawsuit against a local dentist after they say their child suffered brain damage from multiple seizures during the visit. Attorneys say the seizures were brought on by the use of several sedatives while the child was held in a sometimes controversial restraint device. * “In essence what happened is this child was chemically and physically suffocated,” said Jim Moriarty, the attorney for the family of 4-year-old Nevaeh Hall. “This child suffered massive brain damage during that time period and that didn’t have to happen.” * Nevaeh was a repeat patient at Diamond Dental in Houston. Her mother, Courissa Clark, says it was her third visit and that she expected some of the girl’s teeth to be capped or even removed because of tooth decay. * Clark says she and her husband were told to stay in the waiting room. * Records reviewed by an independent dentist show that Navaeh was given multiple sedatives: “Sedated in the office for over seven hours, given five sedatives for a routine dental procedure that should have been done and over by mid morning.” * The child had been placed in a commonly-used restraint device called a papoose. The device confines the child’s arms and legs so they can’t interfere with the dental procedure. * According to the review, “Her body tried to compensate for her inability to breathe by increasing her heart rate to as high as 195 beats per minute.” Her blood pressure rose to “a dangerous 168/77.” And her oxygen saturation dropped as low as 49 percent. “Severe hypoxia is often classified as any saturation lower than 86 percent. And is known to cause brain damage.” * “If parents are being told to authorize or grant permission to papoose their child, they probably ought to run,” said Craig Jacobs with Children First Dental. (Central Ohio’s News Leader/CBS.com)
