During the course of performing a root canal on Dawn, Dr. Toth, an oral surgeon, gets an implement stuck in Dawn's tooth and it breaks. Dr. Toth cannot extract the broken piece of the implement from Dawn's tooth, so he leaves it there. He completes the root canal, and does not disclose to Dawn that he has left part of a dental implement imbedded in her tooth. Dawn's other dental work, including the placement of a crown on the tooth with the implement in it, is then completed. Two years later, Dawn begins to have significant problems with the tooth on which Dr. Toth performed the root canal. Dawn has a serious infection that requires the removal of not only the tooth that Dr. Toth performed the surgery on, but also the teeth on either side of it. She misses a significant amount of work to have the dental work performed and suffers a considerable amount of pain. Does Dr. Toth's conduct meet the requirements of a negligence claim? Explain why or why not.

Question

Zybrea Knight · Accepted Answer

Final Answer :

Yes, Dr. Toth's conduct meets the elements required for a negligence claim.
Dr. Toth owed a duty to perform the root canal as a reasonable oral surgeon would perform a root canal under the circumstances. A reasonably performed root canal does not include breaking a dental implement in a patient's tooth and then leaving it there to become infected.
By doing so, Dr. Toth breached his duty to Dawn. Dawn suffered a legally recognizable injury by the loss of not only the tooth on which the root canal was performed, but the two teeth next to it, loss of wages from time missed at work, as well as pain and suffering.
Furthermore, without Dr. Toth's breach of his duty to carefully perform a root canal, Dawn would not have suffered the injury of losing the tooth on which he performed the root canal, losing the other teeth, lost wages, and pain and suffering. As such, Dr. Toth's breach of the duty of care caused Dawn's injury.

Definitions

Learning Objectives

Learning Objectives

Related questions