Botched Dental Surgery Results in $14.8 million Award
Often not heard in the press, a woman has been awarded $14.8 million after a dental surgery left her disabled and disfigured with her jaw fused shut. The Spokane County Superior Court jury ruled in the case that Dr. Patrick C. Collins, an oral surgeon, was negligent in performing several operations that left Kimberly Kallestad, 29, injured. The ruling includes $10 million in non-economic damages for pain, suffering and disfigurement in “past and future loss of enjoyment of life.” Kallestad is experiencing chronic pain, cannot work and is being cared for by her parents. She went to Collins after injuring her jaw while sledding and says he claimed that he had a near-perfect success rate with a surgery technique that he had developed and would become her "hero" by fixing her jaw. She cannot work and is being cared for by her parents. Other patients of Collins who had trouble testified that he said similar things to them. John Versnel III of Seattle, a lawyer who represents many of the state's dentists in litigation, said the award is the largest dental malpractice verdict in his 21 years of practice.
