Patients of Shoreline dentist awarded $35 million

According to our news partners The Seattle Times and King5, a retired Shoreline dentist with 76 complaints against his license will pay, with his insurer, $35 million to 29 former patients for the bad and unnecessary work he did on their teeth.

From The Times:

A judge Wednesday awarded a total $35 million to 29 former patients of a retired Shoreline dentist who is accused of performing thousands of unnecessary root canals. 

The judge found Henri Duyzend was negligent, failed to obtain informed consent from patients, committed fraud and violated the Washington Consumer Protection Act. The verdict is believed to be one of the largest in state history for dental negligence.

Duyzend performed nearly 2,200 root canals on about 500 patients in the five years before he retired in 2007, according to the sworn affidavit of Dr. David To, who purchased Duyzend’s practice. A typical patient has fewer than two root canals in his or her lifetime, he said.

According to King5,

More than 200 patients filed malpractice claims against Dr. Henri Duyzend, but the new ruling, which came in an arbitration proceeding, benefits a smaller group of patients who declined to settle their claims.

Patients didn't question the number of root canals and crowns that Duyzend performed on them. It wasn't until he retired and sold his practice that things started to unravel. Patients were coming in to the new dentist with pain and failing teeth. 

King 5 said, "According to a sworn affidavit, the new dentist was alarmed by the large number of root canals Henri Duyzend had performed. After reviewing x-rays and patient charts, that dentist concluded Duyzend had done 'fraudulent root canals on almost every patient in the practice' and that many were done poorly."

Additional information in this King5 story.