$3M Recovery for Failure to Provide Prophylactic Antibiotics

Attorneys Daniel S. Weinstock and Carolyn M. Chopko secured a $3 million recovery for the family of a dental patient with a cardiac condition who died as a result of not having received prophylactic antibiotics prior to a dental procedure.

The patient previously had been diagnosed with a heart murmur and an abnormality of his aortic valve and had been advised by his cardiologist that he needed to take prophylactic antibiotics prior to any dental procedures, including cleanings. For the next several years, the records of his dentist regularly noted the need for prophylactic antibiotics prior to dental procedures.

However, after the patient underwent open heart surgery, there was a miscommunication between the offices of his dentist and cardiologist, and his dental chart was changed in error to state that he no longer required pre-medication. As a result, the patient underwent a dental procedure without the necessary prophylactic antibiotics, which caused him to die from cardiac complications.