Dallas dentist sued by family of 82-year-old who died after dental surgery
DALLAS - A Dallas dentist, disciplined by the state after the death of his patient, is now being sued by the patient's children.
The lawsuit contends that the dentist should have never performed the oral surgery on the 82-year-old woman.
Family members say they filed the lawsuit in hopes of preventing what happened to their mother from happening to someone else.
"No one should be dying from dental surgery like this," said Jacqueline Kinloch.
Kinloch says her mother, Fredericka Bailey, was still full of life at age 82. She wanted better teeth, a full dental implant instead of a removable denture.
"She says, you know, you just don't understand how it really alters the way that you eat when you wear a partial, and so she really just wanted to improve her quality of life," Kinloch recalled.
In June 2022, at the recommendation of a friend, she made the trip from Sugar Land, Texas, near Houston, to Dallas to get the oral surgery from Doctor Andrew Kelsey.
"I am Dr. Andrew Kelsey, I am one of the surgical directors, and we do full mouth rehab," Kelsey says in a video posted to his website.
Bailey's daughter told FOX 4 she did not know that Dr. Kelsey was reprimanded by the state 3 years earlier for failing to adequately evaluate a patient and obtain medical clearance from the patient's primary care provider.
The state also found in the 2019 case that he failed to end the procedure after observing the anesthesiologist's inability to control the patient's heart rate.
"I absolutely believe that she had many years ahead of her," said Kinloch.
But the lawsuit says Bailey had sickle cell, a blood cell disorder, and end stage renal disease.
She was on dialysis four times a week.
"Despite knowing that, the Defendants went ahead with the procedure without consulting Ms. Bailey’s nephrologist or a hematologist," the lawsuit reads.
An expert hired by Bailey's family to examine the case in the lawsuit wrote, "failing to Identify the right candidate for IV anesthesia, for traveling surgery, for extensive chair time and post operative down time, were key faults that ultimately led to the demise of Mrs. Bailey."
After her surgery, she had a trip planned with her sisters.
"She just loved life," said Kinloch. "They were going to meet up in the Philadelphia area, and then they were going to go to DC, to the museums."
Kinloch says her mother's life ended too soon.
According to the lawsuit, attorney Jonathan Wharton says Kelsey failed to get medical clearance from Bailey's specialist before performing the nearly $40,000 procedure.
Just days after the surgery, Bailey died. The lawsuit says she suffered a pulmonary embolism as a result of the long road trip home.
"My words to her when I found her, I'm looking down at her, and I just said those teeth, those teeth," Kinloch said.
Kinloch says her mother, a retired nurse herself, trusted Kelsey with her life.
"They should have known better, knowing that mommy was on dialysis, they should have contacted her nephrologist," she said.
The Texas State Board of Dental Examiners found Kelsey violated the minimum standard of care by failing to consider the length of the procedure and the length of Bailey's long trip home. He also failed to consider a hospital setting given her age and medical conditions, according to the Board.
"What we can do is send a message to Andrew Kelsey, to [dental implant provider] G4 by Golpa, and to every other dental practice out there, that there is a minimum standard of care that they have to comply with it," said attorney Jonathan Wharton.
FOX 4 reached the attorney for Kelsey, Lindsey Cummings, on the phone.
He told FOX 4 the firm does not provide responses for matters in litigation.
"Dr. Kelsey plans to defend the lawsuit vigorously," Cummings added.
The other party named in the lawsuit, Frontline Dental Implant Specialists, Inc. doing business as G4 by Golpa, has not responded to multiple requests from FOX 4 for comment.
"I don't want another family to have to go through what we've gone through," said Kinloch.
Kelsey was ordered to pay a $4,000 fine by the state, but he is still allowed to practice with a probated suspension on his license.