Dove v. Ohio State Dental Board, Unpublished Decision (3-10-2000)

CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 10, 2000
DocketTrial Court No. 98-4159. Court of Appeals No. L-99-1280.
StatusUnpublished

This text of Dove v. Ohio State Dental Board, Unpublished Decision (3-10-2000) (Dove v. Ohio State Dental Board, Unpublished Decision (3-10-2000)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dove v. Ohio State Dental Board, Unpublished Decision (3-10-2000), (Ohio Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

DECISION AND JUDGMENT ENTRY
This case is before the court on appeal from the Lucas County Court of Common Pleas, which affirmed the decision of the Ohio State Dental Board finding merit in three charges against appellant, Jon B. Dove, D.D.S. For the reasons that follow, we find that the decision of the Lucas County Court of Common Pleas should be affirmed.

This case stems from a complaint filed with the Ohio State Dental Board ("the Board") against appellant, a dentist. The complaint was filed by Tonya Hetrick, who complained of appellant's conduct during a December 29, 1997 office visit with Hetrick's then nearly three-year-old child, who is referred to throughout the proceedings as Patient No. 1. As appellant's and Hetrick's accounts of the office visit sharply contrast, each version of the story shall be recounted separately.

Hetrick testified that she brought her son in to see appellant on December 29, 1997, because her son had an abscessed tooth that needed immediate attention. Hetrick testified that she proceeded to the examining room, where she held her son on her lap. After looking at Patient No. 1's teeth, appellant explained to the mother that two of Patient No. 1's teeth would need to be extracted. According to the mother, appellant explained that he would prescribe Valium for the boy to help him relax during the procedure, a practice known as "conscious sedation." He also told Hetrick that they would take x-rays of the boy's teeth that day and that he (appellant) would write a prescription for Valium before Hetrick and her son left. Hetrick testified that appellant's assistant, Kim Mohre, took x-rays of the child's teeth: Mohre positioned the arm of the x-ray machine near Patient No. 1's mouth, put the film into the child's mouth, and then left the room momentarily, coming back in to announce that she was all done. She then put the x-ray equipment away.

Shortly thereafter, appellant re-entered the room carrying two pieces of paper and a pen. Hetrick testified that appellant sat down at a counter top in the examining room and showed her the two pieces of paper: one was a prescription for Valium (referred to at the hearing as Exhibit 5), and the other was a piece of paper giving separate instructions for administering Valium to the child (referred to at the hearing as Exhibit 6). The prescription was for five tablets of Valium, ten milligrams each. The instructions on the prescription were to give Patient No. 1 one pill one hour before the appointment. The separate instructions, however, stated, "Please give [Patient No. 1] 3 [underlined twice] tablets one hour before apt. Also bring child 1/2 hr before apt to see how Valium is working. Give tablet in Orange Juice. [B]ring orange juice w/you on day of apt." Hetrick testified that, after appellant read her the instructions on Exhibit 6, the instruction sheet, appellant told her that Exhibit 5, the prescription, was what she was to give the pharmacist, but that she should disregard the instructions on it. According to Hetrick, appellant said not to pay any attention to the pharmacist if the pharmacist gave her trouble, stating that "he [appellant] knew what he was doing and to trust him."

Hetrick also testified that appellant did not weigh her son before prescribing the Valium for him. According to her testimony, appellant asked her how much her son weighed and she stated that she could not remember: he weighed either twenty-nine or thirty-nine pounds. Appellant then picked up the child, according to the mother, and said, "Oh, he weighs a good 40 pounds" and set him back down. The patient's chart indicates that the child weighed thirty-nine pounds, but appellant admitted that he made that notation in the chart, testifying that he was relying on the mother's representation of her son's weight. On cross-examination, Hetrick testified that she was unsure how much her son weighed.

Hetrick testified that after the discussion about the Valium, appellant left the room, leaving the two pieces of paper on the counter top. As she was getting ready to leave, Mohre entered the room again, stating that she had taken the wrong x-rays and would need to take them again. Mohre then pulled the x-ray equipment out again and began putting film in Patient No. 1's mouth, scraping the child's gum near the abscessed tooth in the process. At this point, according to Hetrick, the boy became terribly upset and uncooperative. Appellant then re-entered the room and tried to work with the child, to no avail. It became clear to everyone that the child was not going to allow any more x-rays. Hetrick testified that appellant advised bringing the child back for a future appointment once the child had taken the Valium so that appellant could get x-rays and extract the teeth all in one appointment. Hetrick also testified that as she was leaving the examining room, a dental assistant said, "Don't forget these," referring to the prescription and the separate instruction sheet, and she took them off the counter and proceeded through the hallway to the door.

As the mother and child were leaving, the mother testified that appellant stated, "if your son is going to act in this manner, I think the best we can do is to give him four tablets in orange juice crushed before he comes," and she also testified that appellant stated that she should "be sure to bring the orange juice and the fifth pill with us." According to Hetrick, appellant and the receptionist stopped her on her way out to remind her to make another appointment, which she did, but she stated that she had no intention of keeping it. In fact, she took her son to another dentist who extracted the abscessed tooth. She subsequently filed a complaint with the Board because she believed that appellant improperly prescribed Valium to her son. She never filled the prescription.

Appellant's account of the facts is similar in many respects, but his account of the facts begins to diverge at the point where he prescribed the Valium and gave instructions for its administration. According to appellant, after initially talking to the mother and looking into the child's mouth (to the extent that the child allowed this), he began to take x-rays. According to appellant, he put a lead apron over the mother and the child, and both he and Mohre put the x-ray equipment in place. He testified that Mohre then held the x-ray tube in place while appellant left the room to push the button to snap the x-ray picture. According to appellant, because the child was moving, the x-rays that he took were not particularly clear, and he was only able to get two of the four x-rays he needed. Because of the child's demeanor, appellant testified that he decided to take a "time-out" break.

While taking this break, appellant testified that he began explaining to Hetrick that he would need to prescribe Valium for the child in order to perform the tooth extraction at the child's next visit. He sat down in the examining room and wrote out Exhibit 6, the separate instruction sheet, which indicated that Hetrick was to administer three Valium tablets to Patient No. 1. Appellant did this, he testified, before he wrote out the prescription for five ten-milligram tablets. According to appellant, when he wrote out the instruction sheet, Exhibit 6, he was intending to prescribe two-milligram tablets; therefore, the instruction sheet would have instructed Hetrick to administer three two-milligram tablets to Patient No. 1 — a total of six milligrams.

After discussing Exhibit 6 with Hetrick, appellant testified that he was called into another examining room to check on another patient.

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State v. Adams
404 N.E.2d 144 (Ohio Supreme Court, 1980)
Blakemore v. Blakemore
450 N.E.2d 1140 (Ohio Supreme Court, 1983)
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614 N.E.2d 748 (Ohio Supreme Court, 1993)

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Bluebook (online)
Dove v. Ohio State Dental Board, Unpublished Decision (3-10-2000), Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dove-v-ohio-state-dental-board-unpublished-decision-3-10-2000-ohioctapp-2000.