Seth Lookhart was found guilty by a jury in January on 46 charges including Medicaid fraud, embezzlement, reckless endangerment, and unlawful dental acts, the Anchorage Daily News reported.
A dentist from Alaska who was captured on video extracting a patient’s tooth while on a hoverboard was sentenced to 12 years in prison this week for Medicaid fraud and other unlawful dental acts. Seth Lookhart was found guilty by a jury in January on 46 charges including Medicaid fraud, embezzlement, reckless endangerment and unlawful dental acts, the Anchorage Daily News reported.
The trial that began last November included former employees and patients including the testimony from the female patient whose tooth was pulled out when she was unconscious, as Lookhart rode on his hoverboard.
The act was recorded on a cell phone that captured the dentist riding on his hoverboard into the hallway after the procedure and spinning around with his hands over his head, the New York Post reported.
NBC News reported that Lookhart allegedly texted a video of the stunt to at least eight people, joking that it was a “new standard of care.”
Testimony from a second patient told the court that four teeth were removed without permission.
In 2017, charges were filed against Lookhart after a former employee told investigators that Lookhart was increasing profits by carrying out more intravenous sedations than necessary, the news outlet reported. Lookhart’s dental license was suspended that same year.
According to charging documents, in 2016 Lookhart’s former office manager, Shauna Cranford, billed nearly $2 million in unjustified IV sedation expenses.
Anchorage Superior Court Judge Michael Wolverton said Monday that Lookhart nearly killed several patients by frequently sedating them for extended periods of time, reported the New York Post.
“In reviewing all this over and over again, I have this visceral response — you darn near killed some people."
Wolverton ruled that Lookhart will not be allowed to practice medicine during his 10-year probation following release from prison.
Prosecutors also asked the judge that Lookhart pay $2.2 million in restitution for the fraud and embezzlement, reported the Anchorage Daily News, which will be determined at a hearing later this month.
According to the charges, Lookhart also allowed Cranford, who is not a licensed dentist, to extract a patient’s tooth. Cranford accepted a consolidated plea agreement on 40 charges in October and is scheduled for sentencing this week, reported the Anchorage Daily News.
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