This is one of the reasons health care is so expensive - can you imagine the number of malpractice cases will come out of this? Other dentists rates will go up to pay the insurance company and we the consumer pays the bill. Solution - the ADA should review the practices of all dentists on a continuing basis and have the state pull the license of those not complying with best medical practices (same goes for the AMA).

This guy and his staff should never see the light of day again- how many have been put in jeopardy?

Since he did this imagine what else he's done. Do you think he bothered to clean his other instruments how about the blue plastic cups did he reuse them. It doesn't matter where any of his patients caught a disease if they're sick it will be blamed on him. And if they really did catch it through his practices what about their spouses. They should tie him spread eagle against a wall and let every one of his patients kick him in the balls once and if he survives then jail.

In my past job I worked with the Dental community - the ADA is not empowered to enforce laws, they can only make recommendations. Laws vary from State to State and it is up to the State to enforce them. Sadly, the States do not have the people in place to inspect and enforce the laws governing dental practices.

I visited many Dental "practices" (that's what Dentist's call them, practices), from high end facilities to very small practices and saw so many things happening that shouldn't be done. The staff thought they were doing the right thing but they had been trained by the last person who did the job who was trained by the person before them who was never properly trained in the first place.

Dentist's, in moments of candor, will tell you that they are inherently cheap - some boast about taking "Cheap 101" while they were in school. They will also tell you that they did not take business classes while they were in school so they are generally running their business's without really knowing how to do so.

This does not excuse this activity. They teach that this type of activity is poor practice and that it can cause the patients harm. I would suggest that this is not the only thing that this "practice" has done that would cause you to consider if you would go to the dentist again.

The worst I saw was very shoddy infection control methods at a high end practice that made a point of advertising how concerned they were about their patients health. When I gently quizzed the dentist I was told that asepsis concerns were not inspected and cost too much money I stopped goign to the dentist. Since that time I decided to leave the industry.

This story is a sad commentary on the state of Dentistry in the USA and a reason that the States need additional funding to support inspection and enforcement of the laws they have on the books. An annual fee to each dental practice to support this would help but remember, all costs are eventually forwarded to the consumer - that would be you and I.

James - I was right with you until the last part about infecting the staff with a potentially deadly virus. Yeah, I know the Bible says an eye for an eye and (sorry) a tooth for a tooth, but I don't believe in the Bible either. If they're proved to be a party to it, prosecute them, convict them, and put them in jail. No need to become a barbarian. Unless you're already there.

Wow! One got caught but I must wonder how many more may be doing something similar that we do NOT know about.

I guess there will be a bunch of those frivolous medical lawsuits filed by those ambulance chasing lawyers, , this is why we need tort reform, so medical practitioners like this dentist do not get sued for trying to save a few dollars, doesn't everyone feel sorrow for this dentist!

Your right, his staff do clean up...and he would have told them to do that...no dental assistant would do that on their own...they are trained and they understand the risks involved. I wonder if he threatened them...what makes me sick is if this guy was an oral surgeon, he made big bucks...the items that they reused are part of your normal business expenses! I wonder if IRS should get involved. I was a Registered DA in that career for over 15 years...and this just makes me want to vomit! It's unethical. I don't understand why he did this. And the one lady who said something about the tools and whether they were clean...really good point....probably washed off, but not sterilized. And that was proved many moons ago that it wasn't good enough....I fear for all of these patients of this man....and one other thing....his license was dismissed on a separate issue, but we can't know why???? WTH! You think there's something more important then then this? Give me a break!!!! That just doesn't make sense. Shame on this man. There just wasn't any excuse for this. I do hope he is found guilty and that his staff is also found guilty and they pay a price...but until one person can prove that they contracted one of those diseases from his lack of ethnics....he and his staff are probably clear. What is this world coming too!!!!

Typical media propaganda over reaction BS...............

I bet dollars to donuts that the reused needles and syringes were used to push drugs into the patients IV line.

That the actual needle and line that stuck the patient's arm was new and CLEAN.

The chances of infection from reusing the pushing apparatus is next to nothing but of course it should be new anyway to be beyond reproach.

I could be wrong, if he was using needles already stuck into another patient= shoot him.

this was a dentist, when have you seen IV lines in dental offices.

Saxon (1.7) and others - C'mon, nobody is going to argue that this is exactly what malpractice insurance is about. Your sarcasm is lost here. It's the trivial BS lawsuits that most sensible people want to bring to a stop.

Well James, it could very well be that his staff turned him in, so let's not throw them under the bus just yet. That's the major component of the story that I would like to know: how the "discovery" came about. It's a big piece of the puzzle that we have not been told.

Umm, Saxon (#1.10): If you go back and read the third paragraph, it says that he used the needles and syringes in patients' intravenous lines at his oral surgery and dental implant clinics. It wasn't your typical dental office.

Saxon~ This was an "Oral Surgery" practice.......not a regular dental practice

As a former dental assistant I can not believe his assistants did not stand up to him. The needles are inexpensive. I assisted with many oral surgeries and dental implants, they can be quit bloody procedures. I myself as an assistant would have paid for the needles out of my own pocket. I have trained many assistants and the one thing that I found most important was the cleaning and sterilization of the opratory and the instruments. If it wasn't clean enough for me to use on my child or myself it wasn't clean enough for any one. One time while assisting with a root canal I got poked with an endo file, my patient had Hep C. Talk about a sick feeling, my heart fell into my stomach. I am very thankful so far I am not Hep C positive. I can imagine the anger his patients are feeling today, they put their trust in him and shame on the assistant for going along with it. Did these assistants take their bad habits to the next practice they worked at? This makes me SICK!

Slinger-958418

Saxon~ This was an "Oral Surgery" practice.......not a regular dental practice

Regular dental practices do oral surgery.

I worked in a practice where we did everything from fillings to oral surgery to orthodontics. IV lines included!

With all the cost of doing business these days, a small business can easily go under water.

The only ones making a profit in today's world is the government and the insurance companies.

Obamacare; Page 241 & 253

Doctors will be paid the same regardless of specialty, and the government will set all doctor's fees.

Less government regulations!!!

/sarc

This is just one example of one guy who got caught. How many others are there who have not been caught yet? Can you ever really be sure if any dentist (or doctor, for that matter) actually sterilizes his/her instruments properly? There's just no way to be certain. All you can do is rely on the regulators, but look what relying on bank regulators did to the economy.

GuyLittle, your a piece of work, either your stupid or you think were stupid to bite off on the bs you spout. Im sure your "facts" are in Obamacare; Page 241 & 253

Jackwagon

I visited many Dental "practices" (that's what Dentist's call them, practices)...

Really, Old Guy? Do you really think that people don't know that dentists work in practices? What is with the quotation marks? A dentist is a trained medical professional just like a physician. Why shouldn't their businesses be referred to as practices? They practice dental medicine. Also, doctors don't take business courses. Why should dentists? Large groups usually hire managers who are trained in business management. If dentists in solo practices can't figure out cash flow, then they hire CPAs. You stated that you used to work in the dental community. You probably provided janitorial services for a practice or two.

BTW, not going for dental checkups is not a very bright idea if you want to keep your teeth for life.

@saxon-I don't see where that could be considered a frivolous lawsuit. The jerk needlessly exposed clients to possible life-threatening circumstances to save a dollar or two. I know they sure charge enough not to have to re-use syringes.

One word..........autoclave. Nuff said.

I didn't know why its called "practice". I thought they were professional. Like MD's they shouldn't PRACTICE on patients. Thats why you go to college for 4-8 years. To master the profession.

As the article stated he was injecting into an IV line there's no blood in that so the chance of catching a disease is none. Now if he was using the same needles on people mouths I would be worried. He probably was doing it too.

does not matter. ya do not reuse a needle even in an IV.

So disgusting! Feel sorry for all the people he infected- you just never know the way people are these days.

This is hardly a surprise. As my PCP put it, dentists are like the Mob. Everything from ill fittling parts to price fixing. Don't believe me? Watch this: http://video.pbs.org/video/2250628150

Republicans want LESS REGULATION. Go figure.

As someone who is trying to apply to med school, its sincerely depressing and disgusting to see who gets accepted and licensed only to do stupid, ugly things like this.

This is in response to Rick_1103809: I just am pointing out that it is the old testament that says an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. "the law of moses"

However the new testament says to turn the other cheek and to forgive and forget...

In my personal opinion to this case I just want to say: Every action and choice we make has a consequence, whether good or bad. This is one of those actions that needs to be taken very seriously and the consequence needs to be severe enough that it detours others from following this same path. However, I personally don't believe that we should wish violence on them or hope they get these viruses. However... They need to suffer the consequences.

GuyLittle

With all the cost of doing business these days, a small business can easily go under water.

The only ones making a profit in today's world is the government and the insurance companies.

Obamacare; Page 241 & 253

Doctors will be paid the same regardless of specialty, and the government will set all doctor's fees.

This I don't agree with. It takes more studying and training to do dental implants, oral surgery and orthodontics. As a former assistant I paid extra money and put in more hours so I would be registered and certified in these speciality procedures. Why should a dental assistant with no speciality training be paid as someone who put in the extra hours and money for such training? The same goes with the doctors. If this is the case we will have all general practitioners and no speciality doctors.

Your precious regulations did nothing for this dentist patients.

If you want the government controlling every waking moment of your life you could move to China and enjoy it.

Rockyroad - you are obviously unaware of the fact that the US of A is second only to China in the degree to which we are under government surveillance. Your knee-jerk response displays how low on your list the practice of fact-checking is. And of course, it's always a viable solution to shriek "If you don't like it move overseas!" That solves every problem, doesn't it?

Rocky - Regulations, laws, whatever, have never been a deterrent to a certain part of the population. The regs are in place to draw a line as to what is acceptable and what is not. You'd like to think the majority of people will, for moral or ethical reasons, follow along. If they choose not to, those regs are the hammer we use to go after them.

I really have to laugh at the uninformed above that make up whatever argument they see to suit their needs yet NEVER reveal a source of said made up factoids. LOL

No links = lies!

rocky, if you want no regulations, move to Somalia.

Rules and regulations regarding medical and dental practices are there for a reason. Providing safe, quality practices that have a better tendency to help rather then harm is and should always be implemented in any office and when those rules aren't followed it is necessary to punish accordingly. That's what should separate a regular dental practice from a 'back alley' one. It's terrifying that he got away with what he was doing for so long and I sincerely hope that no one was infected with anything by this. I am curious as to what he is originally charged with regarding the fraud that opened the case for the re-used needles.

And we ultimately pay for any settlement due to higher malpractice insurance rates - I would go along with this but only after EVERY penny of this criminals property is liquidated down to his skivvies and then he be provided three colds and a roll in a windowless cell for life. Until punishment is of such a nature as to send a message and not a cost of doing business we will have this crap - we have been playing for and paying for goody two shoes rehabilitation far too long and it has gotten us no where except broke. SEND A MESSAGE WITH EACH SENTENCING.

Corie, there have been a number of Dentist's that have been sued for poor practice policies in the past. The system requires that you prove that the illness was caused specifically by the actions of the Dentist.

All the Dentist needs to do is show that you could have gotten the illness (typically an infection) from another source and the lawsuit is dismissed. They don't need to prove you got the illness from another source, just show that you could have gotten it from another source.

Sadly, most cases against Dentist's are dismessed because of this.

I agree that he should be locked up for life. This is gross, felonious assault on 8000 people! Think about the scale of that number!

I don't agree with the argument about malpractice insurance. First of all, this is exactly what it is for. Second, this is not a trivial, frivolous case of ambulance chasing. Last, and cold truth, the insurance company only covers a finite amount. I really don't think that should enter into the discussion.

This case points out a number of interesting things.

For one it points out not only the need for regulation, but the need for enforcement. I have worked a lot of years in industrial environments. Industry has a lot of regulations, among them things like safety and pollution. OSHA is the inspection and enforcement arm regarding safety. OSHA makes regular announced and surprise visits to inspect facilities. If a complaint is made to OSHA regarding violations of regulations, OSHA will investigate it. As for pollution issues, the EPA functions in a very similar manner. In general, this works pretty well to keep the businesses in compliance. These agencies are hated by business and the right always tries to diminish their power and eliminate the regulations, but they really do help keep businesses from "cheating" the regualtions.

An additional component of the "enforcement" of these type regulations actually comes from the private sector. At least in big industries, the insurance companies often do their own inspections and use the regulations as the baseline for their standards. Don't meet regulations and if you can get a policy, it will be at a much higher, high risk rate. Often the insurance premiums in big industries can be millions of dollars. The reason being that the claims can be in the multi-millions. Seems to me that malpractice is quite similar or at least should be. The claims in malpractice can be in the millions. The premiums need to reflect that and they really ought to do detail inspections before issuing policies. If a practice shows evidence of regulation violations, that practice, at the least, ought to be paying the higher rates, not an across the board increase in rates for every client. If a practice can't get the appropriate insurance, their business license ought to be revoked. Think about auto insurance and some similar things apply. Have a bad record and your rates go up. Have enough issues and violations and they won't insure you. In many States if you get caught without insurance, your license gets suspended, some make you prove you have insurance to get your plates. Additionally some States and regions have inspections to verify safety and even properly functioning pollution equipment.

Many of the rules and regulations in industry came about because the Unions demanded it to protect employees. Automobile safety regulations came in many cases because of lobbying by consumer groups and even the insurance companies trying to reduce the amount of claims.

Regulations come about because of real needs that have arisen. Sometimes they do get a bit invasive when they get a bit overzealous about correcting a flagrant problem and when that happens, it is very difficult to back down from that. But the vast majority of regulation is there because someone abused a trust to do things properly.

Regulations have been around for well over a hundred years. The NFPA, (National Fire Protection Association), is one of the oldest agencies to write standards and regulations. They came into being because in early town and cities, fire was a devastating threat. One irresponsible idiot could end up destroying an entire town. NFPA covers a lot of things, they are the group who writes virtually all the standards regarding any electrical installations. They are the group who says that your hot tub needs groundfault protection and many such standards that you probably don't even know about. There are other regulation and rule making agencies like this. The NFPA and many others don't enforce the rules or do inspections, but they set the standards. Governments enforce the rules and to some extent, the insurance companies play a role in "enforcement". Additionally, there are many certifying agencies. Groups like UL, (Underwriters Laboratory), FM, (Factory Mutual), and numerous others covering a wide variety of products. These groups usually are about assuring that products meet safety and other performance standards. Again, these groups don't enforce regulations and it is both public and private sector groups that do the enforcement.

All of this is about protecting employees and consumers. But the vast majority of the above is about manufacturing and consumer products. Many people don't even know about a lot of this, but these are things that work everyday to keep you safe.

Where we have a breakdown in the concepts above tends to be in service based business. There are rules and regulations but they tend to be less standardized and most enforcement is based on the honor system. Maybe we assume that the people involved in these service based businesses tend to be "professionals", and therefore are well aware of proper standards and practices. I think this is why the enforcement arm of these things tend to be weak at best. Even the insurance companies use this "professional trust" factor in writing policies. They tend to assume that if someone is licensed and/or certified, they know what they are doing and wouldn't cut corners. Unfortunately, often the licensing and certifying agencies are very political in nature and often you can buy a license or certification with little real oversight. Follow-up enforcement is very weak or non-existent.

Somehow we have come to believe that white collar professionals, be they doctors or bankers, are somehow above doing things wrong. Generally these people have been educated for their positions and know the right way to do things, but why we should trust them anymore than those in blue collar jobs really makes no sense.

We have come to take for granted many of the things related to employee safety and product safety without really thinking about how that is achieved. When some cheap Chinese product with safety or other concerns comes to light, the immediate response is that we need to regulate that stuff. But when anyone suggests that businesses somehow need regulation, people are up in arms about the invasive hand of government sticking its nose in where it doesn't belong.

This is a good example of a situation with regulations and standards, but no real enforcement. The licensed professionals involved here were trusted to do the right things and comply with regulations. The sad part is that the cost involved in doing this right was minimal and would get passed on to the consumer anyway. Instead, motivated by greed, laziness or sheer ignorance, these professionals failed a lot of their customers and put them at high risk.

We see more and more of this everyday where some professionals, with no regulatory oversight and enforcement, do stupid things that put the consumer at risk. Whether it is the loss of billions in the banking and investment business or malpractice in the health care delivery business, these situations are crying out for oversight.

There is a lot of talk about capping malpractice awards because the cost for malpractice insurance is too high. Well maybe instead we should focus on reducing the amount of malpractice in the first place. Enforcing standards and regulations could go a long way toward doing that. Both government and insurance companies can play a role in this. If the people in this business complied with regulations and didn't screw up in the first place, there would be far less claims and therefore the cost of the insurance would drop. They have proved that they can't just be trusted, we need oversight. Some of this high malpractice cost does also come from unscrupulous lawyers trying to make tons of money. Again, a case of professionals not doing the right thing. Another segment that could use some better regulation and oversight.

Just an old guy speaking his mind,

"Sadly, most cases against Dentist's are dismessed because of this."

There is a chance for these patients to prove that they where infected at this clinic. They would need to find a good expert witness with a solid background in epidemiology and statistics. If the expert finds that there is a cluster of cases of infections in this group of people compared to the average infection rates in the area, age, professional affiliation, etc that could point to the practice as a source of infections. Would this expert opinion be admissible in court, depends on the court and the judge.

I'm not sure some people in the comments understand how malpractice works. The only malpractice insurance the people will pay for is for that which covers the healthcare professionals working for the govt. All private healthcare professionals pay for their malpractice insurance out of pocket or with the help the hospital for which they work or through a group insurance. Why are you people so dumb? I don't get where you acquire your information from.... Outer space?

kimposibl,

You are correct and I think some may be mis-interpreting right wing talking points. I'd argue that they want to leave the impression that we all pay for malpractice insurance because that gets people to support their positions. That said though, the cost of the insurance does eventually get passed down to the consumers. As far as health care is concerned, most people don't shop around for the best price on a colonoscopy. You pay what you get charged and if some provider passes more cost on to you, you are probably not even aware of it.

If the insurance were more tailored to the particular insured's situation, such that those with poor practices and higher risk, were the primary ones footing the bill, things would be a bit different. That is what they do to the average consumer. If before a doctor or a hospital was given a policy, the insurance companies did a thorough check into practices and did inspections to check for compliance with regulations, we'd all be better off. Those who did sloppy work or cut corners would end up with higher rates or even be denied insurance. They would have a financial incentive to clean up their act. Would you go to a doctor who was denied malpractice insurance? Probably not if you knew about it. The insurance companies could do a lot to help the situation, but they are mainly about profit and if they can cover the risks just by raising everybody's rates, that's the easy way out. Putting caps on malpractice awards will just make that situation worse because it reduces their risk by doing absolutely nothing to reduce the cases of malpractice occurring. In fact, big class action awards will force the insurance companies to do their "homework" better and ultimately improve the quality of health care.

It is all about collecting more money in insurance premiums than you pay out. There are multiple ways to approach that problem. And if insurance companies were just about insurance, it would be nice and clean. But because the big insurance companies are involved in other businesses like investments, there is an upside to having the biggest cash flow you can. If health care was near flawless and the claims were very small, the rates would be small too. But then that means that the total dollar volume the insurance companies handled would also be less. If they were strictly in business to make a little profit off the insurance policies only, that would be OK because they would need less overhead and handle less money to make the same profit. But it isn't like that anymore. If they can hold much larger volumes of money, they can make more profit and the insurance claims portion basically just becomes an operating expense.

I blame a lot of where we are today on deregulation. Everything in the financial world has become so muddied and every dollar is completely fungible. Whatever mistakes are made is just more money extracted from the average mass consumer to make up for it. Think about it, if you hold any kind of insurance policy and your premiums go into a pool of money which gets used for other things and returns a profit, why don't you get a dividend check every month? You may not be a stockholder, but you are definitely a stakeholder. The entire finacial world is about extracting a few extra dollars from the masses, collecting it together, manipulating it for profit and the handing it to the few. This is true redistribution of wealth and it has become rampant and uncontrolled. But these same few who benefit have managed to convince the public that it's all screwed up because a few pennies of your taxes go to some drug addicted single mom in the slums so she can buy food for her kids.

I wish the public would wake up and realize that we are being systematically fleeced and the money that we are spending to protect us and improve the situation, is being used for anything but that. The situations keep getting worse and we just pay more. All the while, they have us distracted and looking in the wrong direction to lay blame.

That's terrible and the dentist should definitely lose his license and face criminal charges

This was not a criminal act. This is just a textbook case of gross negligence.

License revocation? Absolutely. This guy should never practice again.

Wasn't a criminal act??? You might want to look at michael jackson's doctor on that one.

AQ - Yeah, I don't agree with you. I'm no attorney, but I think this is an extremely criminal act, and assualt on a grand scale - 8000 people according to the article. As I understand it, the victims frame of mind is taken into consideration when drawing a line as a criminal act.

This might seem a stretch of logic, but give me a little freedome with the argument. If you rob a bank with a toy gun, you are still guilty of assault with a deadly weapon if the victims had every reason to believe you pointed a real gun at them. If I stretch that argument, there are 8000 people sweating out whether have AIDS or hepatitis. IMHO, it doesn't matter to me, and shouldn't matter to the law, whether or not they actually contract a disease.

It is stories like this that make it very clear, it would be great if government would keep out of a businesses ... well, "business" ... unfortunately it doesn't matter if it is "Big Business" or "Small Business" if cutting corners means more profit, everyone else can ... well ... take care of themselves! Most laws aren't made to inconvenience, they are made because they are needed to keep people like this honest!

I hope in the future you or your kids go to a dentist like that and after he destroys your life, I would love to be the one telling you that everything will be ok and ask to sit down and wait while the scum doctor self regulates himself out of business...... hopefully not after destroying hundreds of patients more. I would love to see you with your 50 dollar an hour lawyer in court versus his 3 million dollar lawyer to see who wins....

Mark - the problem with that logic is that by the time people find out about his unsafe practices it is too late.

Self-regulation is the problem and most certainly not the solution.

With your example - people will just stop going to dentists if they aren't safe and well regulated.

What about all the people who do not know. The article said about 8000. Are you serious? Would you take that chance? I really don't think so. Just a lot of hot air. This just proves we need more regulation and large penalties when the rules are not followed.

In my state they are starting to drill for natural gas. I read an article if rules are followed it is safe. I am not sure. I read another article stating over 3000 violations since the drilling began. How many violations does it take to be unsafe? How do we know if already we have polluted?

yeah let's all sit down and let Hitler also self regulate while he invades the world and since the Governments no longer exist and there is no longer a State to take care of anything Capitalism and Jesus will take care of our problems or maybe we can pray Hitler away.......

Some people have no sense for obvious sarcasm.

There are people constantly arguing for industry self-regulation in all manner of sectors.... in spite of obvious cases like this where by the time we all find out something is wrong it's too late.... so self-regulation is one of the dumbest things I've ever heard.

4 posts to the fulfillment of Godwin's law....nice.

It is a great deal different than environmental regulations!!!!

It has to do with the the health of the public.

Self regulate?? Evidently this so called Doctor does not know what it means.

He violated the rules of safe practice, proper protocol and the oath to do no harm.

He put the all mighty dollar above the safe treatment of his patients.

I got the sarcasm Mark. ;)

Can't explain why others took your obviously tongue-in-cheek post seriously.

Satire is a dead art.

Had to have been a repteallian dentist.

@ Mark; WOW!, I got your sarc. immediately. I thank the many folks on this site who make this Old Dude with low self esteem feel downright brilliant. How greedy/cheap of the dentist to re-use syringes, I have to do injections for life and know that syringes are very, very inexpensive.

BTW: Sure are a lot of MEAN SPIRITED MO-FO's posting here.

Have a great day ALL.

Mark, please do not take anything that follows as personal criticism of you. I offer this as an observation of my own reaction to your post, and what followed.

Here's the thing, Mark. I think I am probably of average intelligence. And I enjoy sarcasm. I read your post three times. The first read I thought it was sarcasm and I chuckled. But because there are so many truly 'off the wall' posts on these Newsvine discussion threads -- extremes in thinking expressed very similarly to your comment, but absolutely serious -- I wasn't sure when I read your post again.

Your last sentence made your sarcasm uncertain to me; more similar to the serious posts, rather than mocking humor. So, I clicked your screen-name link and read a random 5 or 6 of your other posts on your page to try to get a sense for the direction of your thinking and moral compass, .... and I was left with no idea whatsoever as to whether your post was intended as sarcasm, or was serious or was merely 'trolling' for hyperbolic reactions (which you certainly evoked).

So, here's just a polite and well-intended suggestion, Mark (from someone who shares your enjoyment of creative written sarcasm ... so long as it isn't intended to be cruel). Rather than assuming that your sarcasm is "obvious" to your readers and following it up with an insult directed at those who misunderstand your post because your sarcasm wasn't "obvious" to them (i.e., your "Godwin's law" remark), why not just extend to everyone the courtesy of following your sarcasm with a grin emoticon, or a wink emoticon or even add a parenthetical (sarcasm) or (kidding), to help seal your point.

After all, sarcasm should be understood as such to be effective. If you don't make it clear that is your intent, you may unintentionally fuel the incivility rather than helping us to share your laugh at the incivility. Does this make sense?

Oh, and don't overlook the fact that those four posters who didn't catch your sarcasm (at whom you directed the "Godwin's law" followup remark) were effectively already on the same side of the issue with you; compadres in thought. If you had made it clear your post was sarcasm, those four would have shared a chuckle with you, rather than finding themselves on the receiving end of an insult.

When you really think about it, this news story was all about failure of personal responsibility (the dentist). I think that point shouldn't be lost on any of us as we post our reactions to, and thoughts about the news story.

Regards, Robert.

Lighten up amadeo. Hopefully that was a bit of sarcasm:-)

IDIOTS and their more regulation= is a bunch of horse sh@t

The SEC regulated madoff, in fact they were told for YEARS that he was a SCAM artist

yet the regulators were IDIOTS!!!!!!!! just like 80% of all govt workers.

The govt IS THE PROBLEM IDIOTS

Self regualtion does work, the dental board busted this guy again if he was just using intra line needles over it is most likely no BIG DEAL ANYWAY= like ZERO disease transmission.

More regulators from the idiot govt that dont know @!$%# about anything dental/medical will onlly make your dental BILL SKYROCKET to put in STUPID steps to prevent something that will likely never cause a problem anyway...........plus if a dentist is bad no one will go to him.........again this guy may have infected not one single person.

govt regulators do not garantee any better care but do assure higher prices liberal lawyer idiots.

no dentist wants ot lose his license or get sued, they are REGULATED to DEATH ALREADY- see your dental bill for PROOF!!!!!!!!

PS: As follow-up to my post #6.10 I offer ( as expository evidence of my point ) post #6.12, above.

I leave it to you to decide:

a.) More mocking sarcasm, or ....

b.) serious ( angry and shouting ) whackaddodle

*Waves her hand and picks number 2*

Big Al - You're going to get flamed just like Mark did above you because there are a lot of people out there who couldn't recognize sarcasm if it was introduced with a trumpet fanfare and a flashing neon sign...

I speak fluent sarcasm also!!!

Some people are real nuts when it comes to opposing regulations.

Part of the beauty of satire and sarcasm is injecting the underlying spirit of the joke. Just making a statement and claiming it was meant sarcastically doesn't make it sarcasm, guys. Check out some Jonathan Swift for lessons.

@amadeo122... Have you ever been to a Chinese dentist? Have you ever been to China before? I have both, I used to live in China and believe me, what this dentist in CO did was not right but it doesn't even come close to many of things I saw occur in China. To be honest, if you walked into a Chinese dental office and saw how dirty it was you probably wouldn't want the service. (Not saying they are all like that as I wasn't in all of them, but the ones I was in were not kept up with any cleanliness standards.)

....

LMAO!

Junkies like that should be summarily executed.

an employee/addict stole drugs then re-used the needles.

Hate to say this but it's not an unusual occurrence. It seldom makes the news.

Happened a few years ago, also here in Denver. A CNA (I think,) working in a local hospital infected a bunch of patients with Hep C because she was injecting herself with their pain meds, then refilling the syringes with saline and injecting it into the patients.

She had a long history of drug use and had herself been infected with hepatitis for a number of years.

Except that before disposable needles, standard practice was to sterilize - usually through the use of an autoclave or similar device - any needles, scalpels, etc. that were going to be re-used in medical procedures. It sounds like this jerk wasn't even soaking them in hot water, let alone doing any kind of proper sterilization.

Why do I suspect that the reason this post has no accompanying photo is that the writer's standard outfit of white sheet and pointy hat is at the cleaners, and he didn't want his picture taken without it?