An Alaskan dentist accused of fraudulently billing Medicaid and needlessly sedating patients was also found to have pulled a patients tooth while riding on a wheeled "hoverboard" scooter.
Dentist Seth Lookhart had the July 2016 hoverboard operation captured on video, which he shared with several people. He joked over text that it was a “new standard of care,” according to a lawsuit filed by the state of Alaska in 2017.
The footage—played in court last week and broadcast by Anchorages KTUU-TV—shows Lookhart standing over a sedated patient, swaying slightly on his hoverboard while extracting a tooth. Once done, he rolls out of the room, strips off his gloves, tosses them, and triumphantly throws both hands in the air as he zooms away down a hallway.
Video of Lookhart removing a tooth while on a hoverboard. KTUU Lookhart riding away from the tooth extraction on his hoverboard. KTUU
Alaskan authorities tracked down the woman in the video, identifying her as Veronica Wilhelm. When informed of the video, Wilhelm said she had no idea he had extracted her tooth while riding a hoverboard or that her procedure was filmed.
In court on Wednesday, she got a chance to confront Lookhart over his hoverboard use. When the prosecutor asked her what she would have said if she had not been sedated and could see Lookhart on his hoverboard, Wilhelm responded: “I would've said hell no!”
Wilhelm also testified that she was angry that Lookhart sedated her son for a routine teeth cleaning, according to the Associated Press.
Addressing Lookhart directly, Wilhelm said in court, “[You] probably could've been a really good dentist. I don't have anything bad to say about taking out my tooth, I appreciate that, but I just think that what you did was outrageous, narcissistic you know, and crazy.”
Hoverboards can be dangerous even when theyre not being used during sensitive medical procedures. In July of 2016—the same month Lookharts video was taken—the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission Read More – Source
