Illinois dentist faces wrongful death lawsuit, patient's family claims he didn't have deep sedation license

A patient's family members are suing an Illinois dentist after the patient died following a tooth surgery for which he was sedated, according to a lawsuit filed Oct. 6 and cited by WREX.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the family of Lyle Schmidt, 57. According to the lawsuit, Mr. Schmidt underwent a tooth extraction surgery April 7 at the Rockford, Ill.-based practice of Kurtis Wirth, DDS.

As part of the procedure, Dr. Wirth administered IV sedation, the lawsuit claims. About 20 to 30 minutes into the surgery, Mr. Schmidt indicated that he needed to use the restroom, but Dr. Wirth had already removed three or four teeth at that time, according to the lawsuit. To keep Mr. Schmidt asleep for the rest of the procedure, Dr. Wirth gave him additional doses of flumazenil and naloxone, according to the lawsuit.

Shortly after the additional doses were given, the patient's oxygen levels dropped and he stopped breathing, fell backward and went into cardiac arrest, according to the lawsuit.

Mr. Schmidt was taken to a nearby hospital, where he died three days later.

The suit claims Dr. Wirth used deep sedation without a license to do so; improperly administered IV anesthetic in an office setting for a high-risk patient; failed to monitor the sedation; failed to refer Mr. Schmidt to an oral maxillofacial surgeon for tooth extraction
and anesthetic management; and failed to obtain informed consent for the proposed sedation, among other things.

Becker's has requested comment from Dr. Wirth and will update this article as more information becomes available.

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