Several questions remain following the arrest of a North Texas Fort Worth dentist accused in the death of a 4-year-old patient, as newly released records detail allegations about how medication was handled, how staff responded when the child stopped breathing and how long it took for the criminal investigation to begin.<\/p>\n
Dr. Chrishelle Hemphill of Cuddle Kids Dentistry is charged with injury to a child. Jail records show she was released after posting a $10,000 bond.<\/p>\n
NBC 5 has made multiple attempts by phone and email to reach Hemphill and her Fort Worth attorney but has not received a response.<\/p>\n
The death of 4-year-old Aithana Rodriguez Arriaga during a dental procedure in April has also left two North Texas sisters searching for answers. They told NBC 5 their daughters, who were 13 months old and 4 years old, underwent similar procedures by Hemphill in the days and weeks after Aithana\u2019s death without complications.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe deserve to know who we\u2019re trusting our children with,\u201d Cheyenne Mahanna said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m blessed that my daughter and my niece is okay, but thinking about what that mom must be going through and just realizing that, you know, this was supposed to be a simple procedure that ended up changing her entire life for the rest of her life. I just couldn\u2019t imagine,\u201d Mahanna said.<\/p>\n
The sisters also questioned why it took months for criminal charges to be filed.<\/p>\n
According to charging documents, an autopsy performed April 2 found the amount of the sedative meperidine given to the 44-pound girl in a cup would have been toxic even for an adult.<\/p>\n
NBC 5 has learned Fort Worth police did not open a criminal investigation until June, after Aithana\u2019s mother reported the autopsy findings to the department. Until then, the incident had been documented as a medical call.<\/p>\n
A Fort Worth police spokesman told NBC 5 the State Board of Dental Examiners had investigated the case, but law enforcement was \u201cnot even aware of it at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
NBC 5 confirmed Hemphill self-reported her patient\u2019s death to the State Board of Dental Examiners, as required. When asked when that report was made and what procedures followed, a board spokesperson said, \u201cAll other information about the case is part of the board\u2019s confidential investigation file.\u201d<\/p>\n
The board later temporarily suspended Hemphill\u2019s Texas dental license.<\/p>\n
According to charging documents, investigators allege Hemphill failed to properly monitor Aithana\u2019s breathing, misinterpreted signs the girl was suffocating by performing CPR and administered a reversal medication intended for a different sedative.<\/p>\n
A July search warrant also describes what investigators found inside the dental office.<\/p>\n
According to the warrant, detectives found meperidine and flumazenil, both clear liquids, stored in the same box. A detective also reported finding several syringes used to draw medication sitting in a cup containing varying amounts of syrup.<\/p>\n
According to the search warrant, an unnamed witness told investigators that if a patient did not take all of a sedative, \u201cthey will keep it there for the next patient.\u201d<\/p>\n
Investigators consulted another pediatric dentist, who the warrant says was \u201cappalled\u201d by the practice, saying it was not only unsanitary but also could create dosing problems.<\/p>\n
Hemphill is also licensed to practice dentistry in Louisiana.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for the Louisiana State Board of Dentistry told NBC 5 Hemphill has a current Louisiana license but is not practicing there. The spokesperson said any disciplinary action would remain confidential unless a final order or settlement is issued.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Several questions remain following the arrest of a North Texas Fort Worth dentist accused in the death of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":380460,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-380459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-worth","tag-fort-worth","tag-fort-worth-headlines","tag-fort-worth-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=380459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380459\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/380460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=380459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=380459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=380459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}