A former dental clinic supervisor at the Dayton Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center in Ohio claims the NAACP blocked his efforts to remove a dentist whose poor infection control practices put hundreds of patients at risk, according to a story in the Dayton Daily News.
The clinic is currently being investigated for allegations that, over an 18-year period, Dwight Pemberton, DDS, performed invasive dental procedures on patients but failed to change latex gloves and properly sterilize dental instruments between patients.
The VA has notified 535 veterans that they may have been exposed to hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and HIV by Dr. Pemberton between 1992 and 2010. Nine patients seen at the dental clinic have since tested positive for hepatitis, although it is unclear if they contracted the disease from the clinic.
The supervisor, who is no longer with the VA medical center, said he attempted to restrict Dr. Pemberton's interaction with patients in the early 1990s, but "at the eleventh hour ... the race card was played, and the direction I got from above was that we were going to reverse course and try something different," he told investigators, according to transcripts acquired by the Daily News. The supervisor's name was edited from the transcripts.
Local NAACP officials said they were not certain if any such letter was ever sent, according to the Daily News.
Dr. Pemberton, who had been earning more than $165,000 a year, retired February 11 at age 81 after working for the VA for 35 years.
