MEDINA, Ohio (WOIO/Gray News) – An Ohio woman is suing a university and a prominent surgeon after her husband died following a dental operation.
Matthew Miller, 48, died in 2023, with the Ohio State Dental Board scheduled to hold a hearing to review evidence in the case next month.
In court filings, attorneys for the defendants, listed as Dr. Faisal Quereshy and Case Western Reserve University, maintain their clients are not at fault.
Quereshy’s website states he’s internationally recognized for performing dental, facial cosmetic and oral maxillofacial surgery.
However, Quereshy is facing a wrongful death lawsuit and possible discipline by the Ohio State Dental Board because of what happened in August 2023.
According to the medical-dental negligence wrongful death lawsuit, Quereshy caused the death of Miller during a procedure where he was to have three of his teeth pulled at the Visage Surgical Institute in Medina.
The suit states Miller went there with his wife and son.
His wife, Brandy, filed the lawsuit in the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas a year before the Ohio State Dental Board issued Quereshy a notice of opportunity for a hearing.
She’s represented by attorneys Michael B. Pasternak and Brett F. Murner.
The dental board alleges Quereshy “assigned a research fellow who was not licensed to practice dentistry in Ohio to take the clinical role of dental assistant.”
According to the lawsuit, the student attended Case Western Reserve University School of Dental Medicine in Cleveland, where Quereshy is currently listed on its website as professor of oral and maxillofacial surgery.
In court filings, the university has denied that Miller was under its care and, therefore, wasn’t at fault.
The lawsuit alleges Quereshy “pushed” to have Miller’s procedure done under general anesthesia.
The dental board claims Miller was morbidly obese, with a high risk that he could stop breathing during the procedure, and his condition demanded a full evaluation by a physician before the surgery.
According to the board’s hearing notice, Quereshy failed to do that.
The dental board also says there was an emergency during Miller’s operation, stating that while administering anesthesia, Quereshy gave Miller medications, “one after the other without any pause between administration to assess effectiveness and then, within minutes, placing a throat pack and starting surgery.”
The dental board said that Miller then lost his pulse and went into cardiac arrest.
According to the dental board, Quereshy, “failed to give Miller reversal agents to counter the narcotics and benzodiazepines” that he used to put him to sleep.
The lawsuit states Miller spent the next four days on life support at Medina Hospital before he died.
The dental board said Miller’s death was caused by “acute hypoxic respiratory failure as a result of procedural sedation.” According to the Cleveland Clinic, this type of respiratory failure occurs when the body doesn’t receive enough oxygen.
Quereshy’s attorney, Brian Gannon, has declined an interview regarding the case but said the dental board does not have any findings; everything is just allegations.
“The allegations in the board’s notice of opportunity are just that, allegations. These allegations have not been proven or established as fact,” he shared.
Additionally, the Ohio State Dental Board said Quereshy changed or permitted to have changed Miller’s preoperative anesthesia records after the day of surgery.
In court documents, Quereshy has denied these allegations.
The Ohio dental board’s hearing with Quereshy is scheduled to begin on Oct. 22.
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