Family settles $2M lawsuit in teen's dental death

(Photo courtesy MyFoxTwinCities.com)

A Minnesota family has settled a lawsuit over the 2015 death of their 17-year-old daughter who went into cardiac arrest while having her wisdom teeth removed. The family of Sydney Galleger, who was under the care of Dr. Paul Tompach at the time of the procedure, reached a $2 million settlement with the oral surgeon, The Star Tribune reported.

The procedure took place at Tompach’s Edina Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery office on June 9 at 9 a.m., with the teen’s heart rate dropping dramatically between 9:15 and 9:20 a.m. A call was placed to 911 and CPR was administered before paramedics arrived, according to the news outlet.

A medical examiner later ruled that Galleger died from oxygen being denied to the brain due to cardiac arrest. Initially, the family had told The Star Tribune that they were not planning on filing a lawsuit, but that changed in January 2017.

MOM OF 2 DIES DAY AFTER FLU DIAGNOSIS 

Tompach, 54, saw his license to practice suspended in January 2016 following the teen’s death, but was practicing again under the restrictions placed by the state’s Board of Dentistry just six weeks later, The Star Tribune reported. The restrictions were lifted in June 2017.

The lawsuit alleged “negligent and dangerous” actions pertaining to administering anesthesia, and a failure to properly monitor the teen during the extraction.

“The decision to place [Galleger] under anesthesia without using [the proper] monitoring equipment is negligent and dangerous,” the lawsuit stated. “The evidence in this case will clearly and convincingly demonstrate that [Tombach] had deliberate disregard for the safety of his patients.”

The case was scheduled to go to trial in May 2018.