Dentist’s patient awarded millions

A Spokane jury ruled Tuesday that a dentist was negligent in performing a series of aggressive jaw surgeries in 2000 and 2001 – awarding Kimberly Kallestad a total of $14.8 million in economic and non-economic damages.

A gasp went through the courtroom of Superior Court Judge Michael P. Price as he read the jury’s figure – $10 million – for non-economic damages, including pain, suffering, disfigurement, and “past and future loss of enjoyment of life.”

Kallestad, 29, whose jaw is fused shut, is permanently disabled and in chronic pain. The former WSU student and Lewis and Clark High School cheerleader and varsity tennis player who dreamed of becoming a lawyer cannot work and is being cared for by her parents.

Spokane oral surgeon Dr. Patrick Collins, citing his work schedule, didn’t show up for the jury verdict despite sitting through the six-week trial. His lawyer, John Versnel III, stood as the verdict was read.

Kallestad, flanked by her parents Charlene and Dan Kallestad after the jury was excused, thanked attorney Mary Schultz for taking her case, filed in 2004 just before the three-year statute of limitations expired.

“She fought for my cause and believed in it. We did this to try to protect other patients and provide a voice for the victims. The jury’s verdict shows they listened to what we were fighting for,” Kallestad said.

“Kim Kallestad is my hero,” Schultz said. “Any medical malpractice case is very difficult. She stayed the course when she was under attack, and this jury did an extraordinary job,” Schultz added.

Versnel, of Seattle, who represents many of the state’s dentists in litigation and state medical licensing disputes, said Tuesday’s jury award is the largest dental malpractice verdict in his 21 years as a lawyer.

“I respect any jury decision, but to say we are extraordinarily surprised would be a gross understatement. We thought we had very good arguments,” Versnel said.

The $14.8 million award is among the largest malpractice verdicts in Eastern Washington, outpacing a $7.3 million verdict against Sacred Heart Medical Center and an anesthesiologist in 1998 for a nurse who was partially paralyzed after a botched shoulder operation, and a confidential $12 million settlement of a medical negligence claim against a doctor and a hospital last year, said malpractice attorney Mark Kamitomo.

Versnel said he intends to appeal, in part because other patients of Collins were allowed to testify and jurors heard a reference to a previous lawsuit against the dentist.

Price ruled the reference to the lawsuit wasn’t reversible error and denied Versnel’s motion for a mistrial. He allowed Collins to tell the jury that the August 2000 lawsuit filed by former patient Kathrene A. Arrington was withdrawn in 2001.

Price allowed the other patients to testify during the trial’s rebuttal stage because Collins had denied he’d told Kallestad he had a near-perfect success rate in performing the controversial jaw surgeries he’d developed and also denied promising her he was going to be her “hero” by fixing her jaw, initially injured in a sledding accident at WSU.

The patients who’d “come out of the woodwork” during the trial with stories similar to Kallestad’s represented a surprising twist, Price said in his ruling.

The other patients backed up Kallestad’s testimony, saying he’d made similar reassurances to them – and then chided them when they reported severe pain after the jaw procedures.

The testimony was important, said Ella Mae Porter, one of the three former Collins patients allowed to take the stand.

“It showed them there were other people and Dr. Collins had a pattern of behavior. He’s hurt a lot more people,” Porter said.

Two other Spokane dentists, Drs. John Ames and James Howard, also testified they’d had multiple patients who’d come to them in pain after Collins operated on their jaws.

Diane Barlow, Kimberly Kallestad’s aunt and a Dallas attorney, sat through the trial’s final weeks and applauded the jury verdict.

“Insurance companies hope patients will drop these (malpractice) cases. The courthouse doors are closed to so many people,” Barlow said, citing the costs of the litigation that the Kallestad family bore for four years.

Barlow also noted the personal attacks her niece endured in the courtroom – on some low sophomore-year grades, on her mental state when she dropped out of school after her sledding accident, on her ambitions to become a lawyer and in testimony by defense experts who questioned whether the pain she reported was real.

“Fortunately, the jury saw through those tactics,” Barlow added.

As an asterisk to its large award, the jurors said they hoped Kallestad would enroll in a pain management clinic to help her cope with her ongoing pain.