People of all ages have a fear of going to the dentist, if not for the uncomfortable procedures then for the expensive medical bills. For the parents of 14-month-old Daisy Lynn Torres, these fears amplified when they learned that their daughter had cavities and needed to have them filled while under anesthesia.
Going under is scary for everyone, as there are any number of complications that could occur and that people have no control over. Since Daisy was just a baby, she had never been under anesthesia and her parents had no idea how her body would react. As it turns out, her body did not take it too well.
Dr. Michael Melanson was performing the procedure on Daisy when he emerged and told her mother, Betty, something she wasn’t prepared for.
“He told me ‘Things have changed, [and it’s] six cavities,’” Betty told Inside Edition. “’We’re going to go ahead and do 4 crowns and 2 fillings.’”
Despite having reservations about putting crowns on her baby’s teeth, Betty agreed to the additional dental work because she “trusted him.”
After Betty approved the procedure, things went sour. Daisy went into cardiac arrest while she was under anesthesia; Melanson called 911, but Daisy died at the hospital.
Grief-stricken and in disbelief, Daisy’s parents had an autopsy performed on their daughter and the results were shocking. Though it was determined that her death was related to being put under with anesthesia, the autopsy report went on to say:
“One can only speculate as to why any treatment was performed considering no indication of dental disease or pathology.”
The office where Daisy had her procedure continues to deny the allegations that they unnecessarily treated her at their facility. They have said that by the time the forensic odontologist examined Daisy’s teeth, they had already removed all of the decay and that the report does not factor this in. However, the odontologist also examined x-rays taken of Daisy’s teeth at the dentist’s office just months prior to her death and found that no decay was present at that time either.
If Daisy’s teeth really had progressed so horribly in such a short amount of time, whether she was in need of crowns is still questionable because it’s such a severe treatment for a young girl. What this appears to be is a classic case of a medical professional taking advantage of worried parents by suggesting more work be done and raising the price of their bill.
Healthcare professionals in America have been receiving a bad rap in recent years because of a growing mistrust for pharmaceutical companies and vaccines. It’s cases like these that only worsen their reputation, but when money is involved it’s hard to believe that malpractices like these will ever stop.
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