RTL Today – New series “medical errors”: “I felt very bad” says the victim of a dentist in Luxembourg
A few years ago, Danielle Celli had her mouth completely destroyed by a newly installed dentist in Luxembourg. She recounts her ordeal as well as her fight for justice.
A wrong diagnosis or a failed treatment, a medical error or an accident during the intervention can have tragic consequences for the patient. This theme will be analyzed through a series of reports with testimonials and explanations. This first episode tells the story of a patient whose mouth was completely destroyed by her dentist before the latter disappeared from Luxembourg.
In 2011, Danielle Celli had made an appointment for a check-up with a dentist recently installed in Luxembourg. She tells : “he inspected my mouth and said he needed to perform various procedures to keep my mouth healthy“.
For 3 years, his teeth were regularly eaten away but his health weakened. This patient had to take regular therapy, cortisone and medication to relieve the pain: “I felt really bad, I had no more strength, no more energy and I had this impression of not being able to live anymore but of not being able to die either“.
“ARE YOU SURE YOU HAVE BEEN TO A DENTIST?”
A blood test revealed that his inflammatory markers were nine times higher than the usual maximum. In 2014, she went to this dentist one last time: “I came back to him, but it was another young dentist who practiced in his practice. She couldn’t do anything for me because she didn’t know how to undertake all that her predecessor had before she disappeared. As the problems got more and more serious, I eventually went to other dentists who couldn’t believe their eyes. They even asked me if I was sure I really went to a dentist.“.
Completely destroyed roots, broken instrument tips found in the gum, bridges on broken teeth… the damage in Danielle Celli’s mouth was enormous. At first tempted to hire a lawyer to file a complaint against this exiled dentist in Spain, she quickly abandoned this idea, because it was going to cost her a fortune and ultimately not much. It was therefore towards the dentist’s insurance that the complaint was directed, a solution which obviously took quite a bit of time.
“A first expertise was carried out, and then another, which quickly became very paid and which did not really please the insurance“. The following 4 years, Danielle Celli was performed 11 times by a team of three dentists in an attempt to repair the damage.
The cost of the ill-treatment, the lawyer’s fees, without forgetting the interventions of “reparation” have in all cost the sum of 85,000 euros. An amount that was paid in part by the patient, in part by the dentist’s insurance but also by the citizens.
-> To read also: Luxembourg: a “butcher” gynecologist extradited to a French prison
WHAT TO DO ?
If you too think you have been the victim of a medical error, several options are available to you. the Health Mediator can intervene between the patient and the health professional but also functions as an information centre. He will be able to find the necessary contacts such as the hospital complaints commission. A complaint can also be sent to the medical college or Superior Council of Certain Health Professions.
If mediation does not succeed, you can always file a complaint against the person concerned, depending on the seriousness of the facts, criminal or civil.
Discover the 1st part of this new series in Luxembourgish: