Scott Harrington: The former Tulsa dentist faces at least nine lawsuits in Tulsa County.
Seven people filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the Tulsa oral surgeon who might have exposed at least 7,000 patients to HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C, as well as against his dental assistants, the companies involved in the manufacture and distribution of anesthesia used on the plaintiffs and 10 unnamed defendants.
Dr. W. Scott Harrington voluntarily stopped practicing in March and has a hearing before the Oklahoma Board of Dentistry in January.
He faces at least eight other lawsuits in Tulsa County.
Five of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit filed Tuesday underwent invasive medical procedures at Harrington's practice and were later tested for and diagnosed with unspecified infectious diseases.
The other two plaintiffs are spouses of plaintiffs who were treated at Harrington's office. The plaintiffs are from Tulsa and Mayes counties.
The lawsuit names Hospira Inc., Pharmaceutical Systems Inc. and Southern Anesthesia & Surgical Inc. The allegations against them involve product liability. The allegations against Harrington and his staff involve medical negligence.
Not all of the names of the defendants can be known by plaintiffs because the plaintiffs don't have access to all the necessary records, their attorney Matthew Sill said.
The unknown defendants were owners, operators or partners of Harrington's practice, health care providers who treated the plaintiffs or managing agents of an inspection entity or manufacturers, marketers, distributors or sellers of anesthetic agents or medical devices Harrington used.
The plaintiffs are requesting damages in excess of $10,000 as well as punitive damages and court costs.
A complaint from the board of dentistry found employees of Harrington's practice were using vials of anesthesia on multiple patients, which is known to cause cross contamination.
The lawsuit alleges that this misuse of propofol, the anesthetic, was foreseeable and larger vial sizes were unreasonably dangerous for use in an oral surgery center.
Shannon Muchmore 918-581-8378
shannon.muchmore@tulsaworld.com
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