The sedatives, also called central nervous system depressants, caused Nevaeh’s oxygen levels in her blood delivered to her brain and vital organs to drop. Normal oxygen levels are between 95%-100%. 90% is considered low. 86% is enough to cause severe hypoxemia (oxygen deficiency), and brain damage. Nevaeh’s dropped to 49%.
To make up for her lack of oxygen in her blood, Nevaeh’s heartrate increased drastically. A normal heart rate for a child Nevaeh’s age is between 80-120 beats a minute. Nevaeh’s increased to 196 beats per minute. Her blood pressure also spiked to 168/77, which for her age should’ve safely stayed between 95-110/60-75.
“In essence what happened is this child was chemically and physically suffocated. This child suffered massive brain damage during that time period and that didn’t have to happen”, said the family’s attorney, Jim Moriarty at the March press conference.
“And I can tell you that this chart shows you that this child was essentially tortured”, said Moriarty, holding a chart of Nevaeh’s vital signs during the dental procedure.
The lack of proper oxygen to the brain caused Nevaeh to go into a seizure while still tightly restrained by the papoose. Common first aid knowledge tells us a person is to never be physically restrained while experiencing a seizure. Instead of calling 911, Dr. Jefferson attempted to treat Nevaeh with even more medication. Four hours after Nevaeh’s vital signs worsened, Dr. Jefferson called the paramedics.
“They never did call it a seizure. They just said shaking, she’s shaking. Just the whole time they assured us that everything was OK. And the next time we were allowed to come in is when the paramedics were actually coming back. And that was about four hours later”, said Clark.
How is it that doctors need
4+3 yrs of special training to give sedatives in a hospital setting and you are letting someone with no experience sedate a child??? A dentist should treat teeth, not use sedatives.
I’m so sorry that you went through all u did at such a young age. You can’t see, eat, walk, talk, play, laugh …nothing! Its so sad! Its even more sadder that they give just anyone a license to do such a thing to a child! Meaning it or not, you have a license which means we trust you with our kid(s) not to take their entire life away and get away with it. If there are more dentist offices around using these medications and the same procedure? My advice is that they see what a stupid mistake you’ve done and that they learn from that. I have a 4 yr old daughter with 10 cavities, maybe even more… She has 2 broken teeth which one is starting to really bother her and it scares me, seeing this? Just made it harder for me to even make her a regular dentist appointment. I hope they resign you and take away all certificates and license you have because its clear NO ONE can trust you with ANYONE’S life. How do you even sleep at night? Knowing this poor girls parents can’t even read their baby girl a bedtime story because she can’t hear, can’t wait for her arms to wrap around there neck because she can’t even give them a hug. God works in mysterious ways, he is the healer of all healers, and she WILL be normal again. It might take a very long time but he’s coming to give her what someone has taken away from her..