Woman Sues Dentist for Botched Breast Surgery

A woman is suing a dentist and oral surgeon, claiming he botched a breast reduction procedure he performed on her three years ago when she was 15, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported Sunday.

At the time of the surgery, Thomas Laney was practicing in Seattle, where he was able to remain in business despite being implicated in the death of a patient and having 10 lawsuits filed against him.

The most recent complaint was filed last month in Washington state's King County Superior Court. The woman, who is now 18, had seen Laney for a breast reduction in August 2005.

The P-I is withholding the woman's identity because of "the intimate nature of the medical details," the newspaper said in an article published on its Web site.

The woman's lawyer, Patricia Greenstreet told the P-I that her client was a high school athlete with disproportionately large breasts that hampered her ability to play sports and caused her neck and back pain.

But the surgery left the woman feeling worse, Greenstreet said. According to a plastic surgeon that supported the woman's complaint in court records, Laney violated "the standard of care" by allegedly mismarking the woman's breasts after the operation and by placing her nipples "cross-eyed."

Click here to read more on this story from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.