Ian
Senior Member
- Messages
- 287
I've noticed that a lot of the cavitation discussions have dead links. Specifically anything about the Cavitat scanner. Has the Cavitat scanner been removed from the market? Its difficult to research cavitation surgery/procedures - not finding a lot of recent information (most of it is about 10 years old). Its impossible to find local dentists that can even discuss the procedure. Has the procedure become too dangerous or too costly with no benefit?
This is what happened .. I'll paste it here because the link might disappear.
Open letter to Dr. Shankland’s patients:
From Dr. Wesley Shankland:
....................
In an effort to provide you a history of this situation, I am sharing this timeline of events leading to my required sabbatical. I believe this information will expand your insight into what has truly transpired over the years. Hopefully you will agree the accusations against me are driven by an outside entity.
I have been treating patients with various forms of ischemic bone disease (e.g., osteomyelitis, osteonecrosis) since 1986. In 1998, I met Mr. Bob Jones of Aurora, Colorado. Mr. Jones, a former captain for American Airlines and an engineer had recently recovered from the devastating effects of jaw bone lesions which had painfully consumed years of his life. As a result of his own debilitating experience, and his passion to bring hope and help to others, he and his son (an acoustic engineer) invented an ultrasonic device called the Cavitat. This non-invasive imaging device was designed to effectively locate bony lesions (termed cavitations) in human jaws. The development of the Cavitat greatly improved our ability to diagnose and effectively treat these painful problems. I began using the Cavitat in the late 1990s.
In addition to using this wonderful ultrasonic device, I also conducted research, which was used in a study designed to demonstrate to the FDA that this device should be approved for use by dentists to aid in diagnosing jaw bone cavitations. I also lectured and testified to an FDA scientific panel, which was comprised of PhDs, MDs and two DDSs.
Although the FDA approved the sale and use of the Cavitat, Aetna Insurance Company contacted other insurance companies and reported that jaw bone cavitations did not exist. Aetna Insurance Company also informed others that the Cavitat was inaccurate and those who used this device were “quacks.†Such negative and inaccurate publicity literally ruined Cavitat’s sales. With no other recourse, Cavitat Medical Technologies made a decision to file a federal law suit, in Denver, against Aetna Insurance Company. I was asked to testify in federal court on behalf of Cavitat Medical Technologies, which I agreed to do.
Almost immediately Aetna Insurance Company filed a federal law suit against me in an effort to intimidate me not to testify on behalf of Cavitat Medical Technologies. The lawsuit was dismissed by a federal judge as having no merit. This lawsuit certainly had no merit, but I did incur sizable legal expenses to defend myself.
On the advice of my attorney, I declined to testify personally in the Cavitat case, but I did write an extensive scientific report concerning cavitations and the accuracy of the Cavitat device in diagnosing jaw bone lesions. This report was critical in the outcome of Cavitat lawsuit against Aetna Insurance Company. Ultimately, Aetna Insurance Company LOST the lawsuit!
Following the loss, one of Aetna Insurance Company’s attorneys bragged in a federal courtroom that they would “get those guys,me being one of the two people targeted by Aetna. Thus the intimidation attempt has continued.
At this time, to the best of our knowledge, Aetna Insurance Company has yet to pay the “undisclosed amount”(speculated to be around $100 million) of this settlement, even though ordered to do so by a federal judge.
A belief held by some individuals close to this case would suggest that it is the intention of Aetna Insurance Company to discredit key witnesses who were involved or presented reports used as evidence in the litigation between Aetna and Cavitat Medical Technologies. Based on the fact that the scientific information I provided was critical to the outcome of the case, it is believed that Aetna Insurance Company is making diligent attempts to discredit me in the eyes of the federal court, my colleagues, patients and friends. Remember, to our knowledge, Aetna Insurance Company has not yet paid their large settlement. Wouldn’t it look good for them to file for an appeal, then try to persuade the court that a doctor whose report was used by the court to base their earlier judgment, is now not fit to hold a license to practice dentistry?
Interesting tactic! And, a lot less costly for them than paying the huge “undisclosed” settlement, as ordered by the court. This is the type of ongoing legal battle I would be faced with had I tried to continue my own defense.
Another point of interest is that prior to the federal lawsuit, I was singled-out and investigated on multiple occasions by the investigative branch of the Ohio State Dental Board (OSDB). Leading the investigative assault against me were the following two women, Dr. Eleanor Awadalla, of Toledo, OH Former secretary of the OSDB, and Rebecca Hockenberry, Assistant Administrator of the OSDB, neither of whom ever asked to speak to me personally. It is my understanding that Dr. Eleanor Awadalla was also a paid consultant of Aetna Insurance Company during the time of her investigation against me. This should have been considered a direct conflict of interest!
In August, 2006, after a lengthy investigation, and scouring through 76 patient records, an individual from the OSDB contacted Eve Mueller, a reporter at WBNS-TV in Columbus. Ms. Mueller showed up at my office on Friday afternoon, demanding an interview with me about charges I have never even seen! I spoke with her by phone and that evening, Channel 10 ran two inflammatory stories about me, which were anything but objective or truthful. In violation of the law, this award-winning reporter was given a list of charges filed against me by the OSDB five (5) days before I received them! As a seasoned reporter, Ms. Mueller should have recognized that being the first to report such “breaking news” was actually breaking the law! It was unethical of this reporter and WBNS-TV to report on insider information received prior to my knowledge of charges made against me.
During the past several months, my legal defense team has made attempts to negotiate with Jon Fulkerson, the state-appointed prosecuting attorney, Dr. Awadalla, and the current OSDB secretary, Dr. Ed Hills of Cleveland, to no avail. The full OSDB, consisting of my peers and dental hygienists has never been involved in the decision making process regarding my suspension, but rather only a three member investigative team has been responsible for making critical decisions regarding the suspension of my license and future of my practice of nearly 29 years!
These events bring us to today. In February of this year, under the advice of my legal counsel, much prayer and discussion with family members and close friends, I acquiesced and signed the Consent Agreement. As you can imagine, this was an extremely difficult decision, but necessary to move forward and continue my life’s passion – those suffering from TMJ disorders and craniofacial pain.
HOW YOU CAN HELP:
The allegations against me were gleaned from a five-year review of many, many records and not the result of any patient complaints. Unfortunately, the individual who chose to publicly accept the spotlight in an effort to defame me was untruthful with her statements. In reality, several patients actually involved in the allegations were willing and eager to testify on my behalf; however the investigative team of the OSDB (consisting only of three individuals) was not willing to hear or interested in their testimony.
Since the beginning of the media coverage, our office has been inundated with phone calls and emails from faithful friends, colleagues and patients asking how they can help. Simply stated, I respect our patients’ privacy and I have chosen not to compromise the confidentiality of any of our patients by making individual records or cases a matter of public information.
However, if you would like to write letters to our Governor and the Ohio Inspector General to share the experience you have had with me personally, professionally or as your dental or pain management resource, I would be very grateful and would appreciate your help.
Write letters of support for me and asking for an investigation of the Administrative Branch of the OSDB because of suspected conflicts of interest, corruption, and unreasonable penalties to:
I know by the time they had finished with Cavitat, they had some government agency raid their offices and take everything, all research, patent notes, everything. The crazy part was cavitat won their lawsuits against Aetna, but in the end it didn't matter.
