A hearing examiner is recommending that an Ohio oral surgeon, who faces a lawsuit over a man who went into cardiac arrest during a dental procedure and later died, have his license suspended, according to a story published on January 28 in WMBF News.
In March, the Ohio State Dental Board will review the hearing examiner’s recommendation and determine the fate of Dr. Faisal Quereshy, who is being sued for the wrongful death of 48-year-old Matthew Miller.
Hearing examiner Celia Schnupp determined that Quereshy didn’t adequately monitor Miller or conduct a full medical evaluation, calling what happened to the patient an “isolated failure,” according to the story.
Though the examiner did not believe Quereshy’s license should be revoked, since there appeared to be evidence of systemic failures, she recommended that his license to administer anesthesia be suspended for six months to one year followed by two years of probation, according to the story.
In August 2023, Miller went to the Visage Surgical Institute in Medina, OH, to have three teeth pulled under general anesthesia. His wife claims in the lawsuit that Quereshy "pushed" to have Miller’s extraction performed under general anesthesia. Miller was morbidly obese, placing him at high risk of respiratory arrest during the procedure. Miller’s condition required a full physician evaluation prior to the procedure, which Quereshy didn’t obtain.
Quereshy allegedly administered anesthesia and gave Miller medications “one after the other without any pause between administration to assess effectiveness and then, within minutes, placing a throat pack and starting surgery,” according to the Ohio State Dental Board. Miller then lost a pulse and went into cardiac arrest.
Quereshy reportedly didn’t give Miller reversal agents to counter the narcotics and benzodiazepines he was given. Miller was taken to a local hospital and died four days later. It was determined that Miller’s cause of death was acute hypoxic respiratory failure due to procedural sedation.
In July 2025, the Case Western Reserve University School of Dental Medicine allegedly suspended Quereshy, a university professor, while it investigated allegations that he violated professional standards.
A month later, the university and University Hospitals reportedly stopped allowing their students to shadow or participate with Quereshy at Visage Surgical Institute.
Also, the university reportedly barred Quereshy from being on campus until it completed its investigation into claims that the oral surgeon allowed students who were not licensed to participate in patient care at his private practice. Also, the university was exploring concerns that Quereshy misused his position of authority with students and/or failed to provide proper guidance, according to the story.
Quereshy allegedly allowed a research fellow who was not licensed to practice dentistry in Ohio to work as the dental assistant during Miller’s procedure. This research fellow attended Case Western.
