4-Year-Old Girl Suffers 'Severe Brain Injury' at Dentist's Office, Documents Say
Navaeh Hall, 4, "can no longer talk or walk," her mother says.
— -- A "once perfectly healthy and normal" 4-year-old girl "can no longer talk or walk or really see much" after suffering severe brain damage during a dentist visit gone "horribly wrong," according to her mother.
Navaeh Hall had gone to Dr. Bethaniel Jefferson's practice, "Diamond Dentistry," in Houston on Jan. 7 to have a few decaying teeth treated, her mother Courissa Clark told ABC News.
But the "dental care resulted in serious harm" to Navaeh, who "suffered severe brain injury as a result," according to a temporary suspension order from the Texas Board of Dental Examiners obtained by ABC News.
After Jefferson sedated Navaeh, the 4-year-old began experiencing seizures, the board staff said in its petition for temporary suspension.
Jefferson then attempted to treat the seizures by "by administering oral medication (Halcion) instead of contacting emergency personnel," the board wrote, adding that Jefferson then "delayed several hours before contacting emergency personnel" and Navaeh "suffered severe brain injury as a result."
Previous disciplinary action records on the board's website show that Jefferson was reprimanded in 2012 for falling "below the minimum standard of care in the sedation of a minor" and in 2005 for not meeting the "minimum standard of care" and for not keeping "adequate dental records" for a patient.
A spokeswoman for the board told ABC News Jefferson's license was temporarily suspended on Jan. 20 after and that a license revocation hearing for Jefferson has been scheduled at the end of the month.
Jim Moriarty, the lawyer for Navaeh and her family, told ABC News Friday he plans on filing a lawsuit on the family's behalf against Jefferson and her practice soon.
Jefferson did not respond to ABC News' multiple requests for comment.
Clark said that since the incident, her daughter has been through four different hospitals and is currently at an in-patient rehabilitation facility, where she goes through "multiple hours of occupational, physical and speech therapy everyday."
"She can't talk or walk or do anything she used to do," Clark said. "She even had to get surgery just to get a feeding tube into her stomach."
Clark added that Navaeh's vision also seems to be impaired, saying that the 4-year-old can "follow voices sometimes but she can't look directly at a person anymore."
"Right now, it's a waiting game to see what she can relearn and what she'll be able to do," Clark said. "I'm hoping to get my daughter back the way she was. I believe through my faith there's nothing God can't do. This is our baby, so we just have to accept and live with what we have."
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