Verdict doctor draws patients 19 teeth

Dentist must pay mentally ill man 20,000 euros compensation

04/16/2015

A dentist from Munich has to pay a 28-year-old man from Kassel 20,000 euros in compensation. The reason: The physician had pulled a patient's last 19 teeth, although this could give due to a mental illness no valid consent.

Tooth extraction requires valid patient consent
If a tooth is to be pulled at the dentist, a medical indication or at least a valid consent of the patient is required. In this context, the Higher Regional Court of Munich had to deal with a case that other people only know from nightmares. As the „Evening News“ reported, had a 28-year-old mentally ill man in 2013 by a Munich dentist pull the last 19 teeth and paid a total of 2047 euros. The man wished this because he assumed that his teeth were responsible for his potency problems, the report said.

Treatment performance supposedly „put artis“ provided
From the point of view of the 57-year-old dentist, this was not an offense, because he had performed the treatment as required („put artis“), so the „Evening News“ continue. According to the physician, the indication for the extraction of the teeth had resulted from the plaintiff's mental illness, and the man also had inflammation of the bone marrow (osteomyelitis), allergies and autoimmune diseases. In addition, the man would have to rely on his old fillings „serious disease states“ reacted, which made the removal of the teeth a relief. Another reason, in the opinion of the defendant for the correctness of the intervention spoke.

Doctor should have recognized the patient's situation
The problem: An expert opinion had shown in the first instance that for the massive intervention of the dentist no medical indication existed. For this reason, the district court ruled in favor of the sick man and sentenced the dentist to pay 20,000 euros in pain and reimbursement of all material and immaterial damages. Since the man suffers from a schizophrenic psychosis, he was not able to give a valid consent. This could have been recognized by the doctor, according to the judge „Evening News“. Instead, the patient now has to live with the consequences of the procedure: „The young man is dependent on a prosthesis all his life“, the presiding judge Wilhelm Schneider explained the serious consequences. As there was little to be said about the verdict from the point of view of the Senate, the judge finally urgently appealed to the defendant to withdraw the appeal - which the doctor finally accepted. (No)