Dentist Attends Hearing for License Following Patient Death

An Enfield dentist will attend a hearing Wednesday with the Connecticut State Dental Commission, which was suspended after his patient died in February, according to The New Haven Register.

Rashmi Patel’s license was suspended April 21. He also has an office in Torrington.

One of Patel's patients, Judith Gan, 64, died Feb. 17 while having 20 teeth pulled and replaced with implants.

The Connecticut Department of Public Health posed multiple allegations against Patel, including improperly delegating sedation and patient monitoring, retaining expired medications, failing to monitor a patient on Dec. 19, 2013, who aspirated a throat pack, attempting to extract Gan’s numerous teeth and place implants in a single visit Feb. 17 and failing to appropriately respond to Gan’s dropping oxygen levels. The Statement of Charges Pending against Patel was signed April 14, 2014 by Jennifer Filippone, chief of the Practitioner Licensing and Investigations Section.

Patel’s lawyer told The Hartford Courant that Patel denies the allegations.

Gan was brought to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, MA, after she appeared unresponsive, The New Haven Register reported. She was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Patel’s meeting before the commission was scheduled for Wednesday morning at the state Legislative Office Building in Hartford.