A Real 'Root' Canal

OLYMPIA, WA - An oral surgeon who temporarily implanted fake boar tusks in his assistant's mouth as a practical joke and got sued for it has gotten the state's high court to back up his gag.

Dr. Robert Woo of Auburn had put in the phony tusks while the woman was under anesthesia for a different procedure. He took them out before she awoke, but he first shot photos that eventually made it around the office. The employee, Tina Alberts, felt so humiliated when she saw the pictures that she quit and sued her boss.

Woo's insurance company, Fireman's Fund, refused to cover the claim, saying the practical joke was intentional and not a normal business activity his insurance policy covered, so Woo settled out of court. He agreed to pay Alberts $250,000, then he sued his insurers.

A King County Superior Court jury sided with Woo, ordering Fireman's Fund to pay him $750,000, plus the out-of-court settlement. The insurance company won the next round, with the state Court of Appeals saying the prank had nothing to do with Woo's practice of dentistry. On Thursday, the state Supreme Court restored Woo's award.

In a sprightly 5-4 decision, Supreme Court Justice Mary Fairhurst wrote that Woo's practical joke was an integral, if odd, part of the assistant's dental surgery and "conceivably" should trigger the professional liability coverage of his policy.

Dissenting Justice James Johnson said the prank wasn't a dental procedure at all and only "rewards Dr. Woo's obnoxious behavior and allows him to profit handsomely."

The back story, the court wrote, is that Alberts' family raises potbellied pigs and that she frequently talked about them at the office where she worked for five years.

Woo said his jests about the pigs were part of "a friendly working environment" that he tried to foster.

The oral surgery on Alberts was intended to replace two of her teeth with implants, which Woo did. First, though, he installed temporary bridges that he had shaped to look like boar tusks, and while Alberts was still under anesthesia, he took photos, some with her eyes propped open. Before she woke up, he removed the "tusks" and put in the proper replacement teeth.

Woo says he didn't personally show her the pictures but staffers gave her copies at a birthday party.

Woo's lawyer, Richard Kilpatrick, described the surgeon as a kindhearted, fun-loving man who was chagrined that an office prank turned out so badly. He was delighted with the high court's decision, Kilpatrick said.

    Now here's a new twist on malpractice insurance. The doctor did the right thing by settling with his assistant, no doubt of that. But when he tried to recover that payout, he was way out of line. And to add insult to injury (sorry), the Court sticks it's nose in and awards the doctor FOR HIS BAD BEHAVIOR. I think the State Medical Board shoud pull this idiot's license for a few years.

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Comments

[Oldcatman]

Then there was the plastic surgeon who specialized in breast implants and when his girl friend was asleep put "one" in the middle of her back---claimed it was
great for slow dancing!!!!!!!

The devil made me do so it!

[Jim Mcfalls]

I loved the video also I heard that Steve Martin got married recently to a much younger lady.

[Bomb-a-rama]

It is obvious that it is still not safe....

[Jim Mcfalls]

Did you ever hear that dentists have the highest suicide rate of any profession?

I think it's guilt over how much they chrge.

[Phoenix]

I can't watch the video, so can't comment on that.

But I am here to tell you that this kind of stuff happens ALL the time in medical facilities. You have to figure human nature under the high-stress conditions of surgery and emergency and the regular day-after-day routine of illness need more than any other profession to decompress and to do so often. Pranks are a part of it all. If you listen to enough stories, you get used to it and think nothing of it other than the pranks are pretty damn funny and none are designed to hurt anyone.

I remember one time a farmer brought a giant, white, dead duck into the animal hospital. Rigor mortis had fixed the duck into a perfect standing position, and one of the nurses put it on the exam table in the station area where all the backroom activity goes on. It looked alive and everyone got a kick out of its 'aliveness' and perfect stillness. The owner wanted an autopsy, but it had to wait until the busy office hours were over, so there Mr. Duck stood watching over all the action. Someone put a lighted cigarette in its beak and left it, and everyone went about their duties with a glance and a chuckle at the smoking duck.

[Jim Mcfalls]

I'd love to see that picture.