Donzell Jarrod Conrad walked into a dentist’s office in Spring in October 2024 with a chipped molar. The next day, he underwent a tooth removal and never awoke from his anesthetic, according to attorneys.
Conrad had a history of diabetes, obesity and hypertension, and he was taking blood pressure medication, according to a lawsuit filed on Tuesday in Harris County. He allegedly told this to his doctors, who recommended the tooth be removed, attorneys for his family claim.
A day later, Oct. 8, Conrad went in for surgery, which attorneys have said was performed by Dr. Pasha Sanders, an oral surgeon named as a defendant in the lawsuit. Sanders was “designated as both the surgeon and anesthetist for Mr. Conrad’s procedure without any dedicated anesthesia professional present,” according to the lawsuit. Conrad was given versed, propofol, ketamine and ketorolac as an anesthetic, according to attorneys for his family, who say Sanders removed the tooth and cut off the anesthesia. Two minutes later, Conrad’s blood oxygen levels began to drop, the attorneys claim. Emergency medical services were called and brought Conrad to a hospital, where he was in a coma for four weeks. He died Nov. 12, 2024.
The wrongful death lawsuit accuses Sanders of medical malpractice, largely around allegedly recommending sedation given Conrad’s medical history, as well as an alleged failure to adequately respond when Conrad’s blood oxygen levels began dropping. Beyond that, the lawsuit also accuses Castle Dental and Smile Brands of negligence. Attorneys say dental service organizations like theirs circumvent Texas law banning corporate dentistry practices, which “can lead to systems that emphasize volume, incentivizes conversions from examinations to operative treatment, and pressure clinicians to meet productivity benchmarks — regardless of clinical judgment or patient-specific needs.”
