BATH, Maine — Federal labor officials have sued a Bath dentist for allegedly retaliating against two dental hygienists who alerted authorities to unsanitary conditions at her practice.
The suit filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Portland by the U.S. Labor Department alleges that Tammy Cook, owner of Bath Family Dental, discriminated against Dorothy Shafran and Chelsea Huntington for complaining about what the hygienists believed to be lapses in infection control at the office.
Cook’s attorney, Robert Kline, denied the allegations and said Cook operates a clean and safe dental practice.
The suit seeks lost wages, benefits, and compensatory and punitive damages for Huntington and Shafran.
The hygienists filed complaints with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in October 2011 after alerting Cook to health and safety hazards at the office, according to the complaint. Shafran and Huntington complained that patient rooms weren’t properly cleaned and personnel failed to wash their hands before treatment and didn’t wear gloves.
The hygienists said Cook failed to address their concerns.
The Labor Department alleged in the lawsuit that during a subsequent surprise inspection at the practice, Cook told OSHA officials that she knew who had filed the complaint and threatened to fire them. The inspectors informed Cook that whistleblowers are protected under federal law, and Cook replied that she would fire the complainants for another reason and OSHA would not be able to prove otherwise, according to the complaint.
Working conditions worsened for both women, including retaliatory disciplinary warnings from Cook, the complaint alleges. Shafran was fired and Huntington resigned on the same day after Cook told her she would be demoted.
The disciplinary actions resulted from multiple rule violations by the two hygienists, Kline said. He provided a copy of a decision by the Maine Department of Labor related to Shafran’s claim for unemployment benefits that found Cook proved Shafran acted irresponsibly and her misconduct put the dental practice in jeopardy.
Shafran’s misconduct included failing to wear safety glasses while working on patients and failing to provide documentation of being vaccinated against hepatitis B, according to the decision.
OSHA found no lack of infection control at the practice, Kline said. He provided a copy of an Oct. 20, 2011, OSHA citation that shows no enforcement action was taken related to Huntington’s original health and safety complaints.
“There’s not anything that suggests Dr. Cook’s hygiene practices are not appropriate or consistent with OSHA regulations,” he said.
The citation noted several paperwork violations and a $3,000 fine involving the practice’s plan for handling blood-borne pathogens, which was incomplete.
Cook, a former dental hygienist, purchased the small practice in 2007, Kline said. She was licensed to practice as a dentist in Maine in 2005.
Good! There is no excuse to keep unsanitary conditions in any surgical environment. The Dentist should go to jail!
The article states, “There’s not anything that suggests Dr. Cook’s hygiene practices are not appropriate or consistent with OSHA regulations,” he said.”
The article further states the dentist proved her case that the fired employee “Shafran acted irresponsibly and her misconduct put the dental practice in jeopardy.
Shafran’s misconduct included failing to wear safety glasses while working on patients and failing to provide documentation of being vaccinated against hepatitis B, according to the decision.”
Glad you’re not in charge of adjudicating this case.
sometimes you don’t know too much. Read between the lines!
No thanks, I don’t read between the lines or “fill in the blanks” until a case has been adjudicated.
Tammy Cooks attorney can say whatever, and allegations against the hygienist will be heard when OSHA litigates the case. What has been proven is that OSHA found violations and fined the dentist. She failed to properly train her employees as required by law in a critical area of her practice! She has put her patient’s and staff at risk. Shame on her! Tammy Cook is quoted by the investigators as saying she would retaliate, and she did. She obviously lacks in the ethics department as well. Her patients would be best served to find another dentist.
I doubt the BDN would publish the name of the dentist and risk a suit for libel if there wasn’t a bit more fire behind the smoke.
You’d think a dentist practicing in a town named “Bath” would get the hint that a bit of asepsis is the way to go. If I was this woman’s patient, I’d be requesting to have my chart sent to my new dentist. ASAP.
Indeed! And Cook apparently changed the manner in which she operated before OSHA showed up for the surprise inspection. I doubt she will go to jail, but her business will suffer as a result of this story and consequent action by the Labor Department. I was in the hospital a number of years ago and ended up with C.Difficile while there for 4 days; needless to say infection control was lacking at that facility.
everything can look great when OSHA is there…but if they saw day to day practices they might see things differently.
It is a shame Dental Hygienists need to be slaves to a
dentist. Imagine how healthy people’s mouths would be if the hygienists could
open practices similar to hair dressers, and you could get your teeth cleaned
for 20-25. Insurance companies would probably pay for monthly cleanings. Every
cleaning I have, the dentist pokes their head in looks quickly into my mouth
and leaves. I so not see the necessity of hygienists being forced to work under
a dentist.
One way to lower heath costs that would be fought by the health provider community.
Try getting that by the dental lobby!! It’s a practical idea though and people with other dental concerns could be referred to the skilled provider. However, cleanings and brightening/whitening treatments comprise the bread and butter of dental practices, by having the dentist pop in for a quick look, it is billable at a much higher cost, generating fluff in the revenue department. The lobby will be quick to defend the “need” for dental hygienists to be overseen by a dentist but it has little to do with the patients’ best interests.
My kid was a patient at a Bangor orthodontist, and we observed unsanitary practices from one of the orthodontists on a regular basis. He would glove up and go between patients without changing gloves or washing his hands. When my child told the orthodontist he needed to change his gloves before reaching in his mouth, the orthodontist got all mad for being called on a basic infection control/ OSHA requirement.
Patients place a lot of trust that medical providers are careful and follow due diligence through adhering to OSHA infection control regulations. But look at the N.H. lab tech who infected patients with hepatitis for several years before being identified as the infection source. Not everyone working in health care has a patient’s health and best interests as their number 1 priority. It behooves patients to be observant and to report violations of safety standards. The hygienists in this case deserve commendation for their willingness to make waves in the interest of bettering care for the patients they served.
Yep. And that little peek in the mouth is billed as an exam.
It seems to me that the dental hygienists did the right thing by reporting concerns, and unfortunately for them, the dentist cleaned it up for OSHA. Also the fact that the dentist has a higher professional status would give her a higher level of credibility to many people. I wonder what a surprise inspection would reveal.