A Wichita dentist faces serious accusations including racism, sexual harassment and other inappropriate behavior. A civil lawsuit filed in federal court claims Dr. David Brown watched pornographic movies in front of child patients while they were sedated.
The suit names Brown as a defendant, along with his two partners at Children's Dentistry of Wichita, located near 21st Street and K-96.The case was filed by two former dental assistants, Ruby Anderson and Kasmira Smith, who resigned last October.
They claim Dr. Brown kept naked pictures of women in his office and repeatedly used offensive and sexually charged language in the office. The lawsuit also claims Brown treated African-American and Hispanic children differently by using inadequate anesthesia and not performing the dental work in the proper amount of time.
"They saw that the children were given an anasthesia or appropriate pain medication, but either it was allowed to wear off or that it wasn't given a chance to take effect," said Joshua Friedman, attorney for Anderson. "I know that my clients observed this and they're professionals. And they don't believe the minority children were given the same opportunity to benefit from anasthesia as un-minority children."
The former employees are asking for unspecified damages as well as a jury trial.
An attorney representing Brown's two dental partners and the clinic overall says the claims made are "pretty bad". But attorney Ross Hollander cautions they are just allegations at this point. Hollander said his clients will tell a radically different story at trial. Hollander flatly denies there was ever any discrimination or mistreatment of patients because of race.
"If there are anasthetics to be administered, the doctor does that. And those, of course, are always charted. I mean, those are very closely regulated," said Hollander. "Now, it is true that the doctor... does have discretion."
He went on to point out that no allegations of misconduct were made during the several years the two women worked at the clinic, they came only after the women had left.
"So they claim to have observed what most people would think was, any reasonable thinking person, would be an awful thing to do and never say a word about it," Hollander said.
