{"id":306819,"date":"2026-02-19T21:23:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T21:23:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/306819\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T21:23:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T21:23:18","slug":"family-settles-high-court-action-over-mothers-death-following-dental-implant-procedure-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/306819\/","title":{"rendered":"Family settles High Court action over mother\u2019s death following dental implant procedure \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The family of a woman who suffered a cardiac arrest during an implant procedure at a Dublin<\/a> dental clinic and died five days later has settled a High Court<\/a> action over her death.<\/p>\n

Margaret O\u2019Doherty was having the implants inserted under conscious sedation at Dublin Specialist Dentistry in Sandyford<\/a>, Co Dublin, when, after five of the seven implants had been completed, the 72-year old woman went into cardiac arrest, the High Court heard. <\/p>\n

An ambulance was called and the mother of three was taken to hospital, where she died five days later. <\/p>\n

Bruce Antoniotti, appearing for the deceased\u2019s family, instructed by Rachael Liston solicitors, told the court the case had been settled after mediation, and the settlement was without an admission of liability. <\/p>\n

The case was before the court for the division of the \u20ac35,000 mental distress solatium payment only.<\/p>\n

In the proceedings, it was claimed alleged excessive doses of an intravenous sedative and local anaesthetic had been administered and allegedly caused Ms O\u2019Doherty to suffer cardiac arrest. All of the claims were denied.<\/p>\n

Antoniotti said the Coroner\u2019s Court three years ago had returned a verdict of medical misadventure in the case, and the coroner had made three recommendations to the Dental Council<\/a>.<\/p>\n

These included a recommendation that the code of practice relating to the administration of general anaesthesia and sedation and on resuscitation in dentistry is urgently reviewed and updated to reflect current procedures being undertaken in an outpatient dental practice setting.<\/p>\n

Antoniotti said the O\u2019Doherty family were anxious that \u201csomething like this does not happen again\u201d, and they wanted to ensure the recommendations were implemented. <\/p>\n

O\u2019Doherty\u2019s husband, Michael O\u2019Doherty, from Gorey, Co Wexford, had sued oral surgeon Seamus Rogers and prosthodontist Maurice Fitzgerald, who were at the time with Dublin Specialist Dentistry, which then operated at Furze Road, Sandyford, Dublin.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Doherty, who had damaged her dental bridge in a fall, had attended Dublin Specialist Dentistry, and it was arranged she would have seven dental implants on August 18th, 2020. <\/p>\n

The procedure was expected to take four hours and it was claimed that O\u2019Doherty, in the week before the surgery, inquired by email if a more conservative option of treatment was available. She was allegedly advised that implants were the best option.<\/p>\n

In the family\u2019s case, it was claimed that there was an alleged failure to take any or any sufficient care in respect of the administration and management of sedation or anaesthesia during the dental implant procedure. <\/p>\n

It was further claimed there was an alleged failure to take any or any adequate account of the woman\u2019s low body size, weight and age in the context of the procedure and the sedation and anaesthesia employed.<\/p>\n

It was further contended O\u2019Doherty suffered a type of brain injury secondary to cardiac arrest as a result of alleged improper use or management of sedation and or anaesthesia during the dental implant procedure. <\/p>\n

All of the claims were denied. <\/p>\n

Noting the settlement and approving the division of the solatium, Judge Paul Coffey asked that his deepest sympathy be extended to the O\u2019Doherty family, who were not in court for the ruling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The family of a woman who suffered a cardiac arrest during an implant procedure at a Dublin dental…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":138443,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[144386,615,73,61,60,69796,80],"class_list":{"0":"post-306819","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology","8":"tag-dental-council","9":"tag-dublin","10":"tag-high-court","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-sandyford","14":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306819\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}