I was injured by my dentist while under local anesthesia. I was awake. Something wasn't right about his manner; he made a bizzare comment; and his odd behavior distracted my attention from his needless and extensive scraping away of healthy and necessary bone tissue.
His bizzare comment was, "You've been a bad patient." I had not been bad in any imaginable way, and I relive the experience wondering whether what he did to me was some form of punishment for my "being bad."
I'll be undergoing difficult surgery with difficult recovery in hopes of reversing some of the damage he caused. It will cost me a lot, but I'll at least be able to find out how far he went beyond what's reasonable, or if I'm just imagining the worst.
I'm qualified to make that call. I have pre-operative and postoperative x-rays. And I'm living with the problems his "punishment-treatment?" caused.
Above and beyond the unpleasantness of a possible malpractice case, and my feelings about having been violated, I struggle wondering what's wrong with this guy; and if what happened is linked to his mental illness, what are my ethical responsibilities to him and his patients.
If not for the fact that I respect the norms of civilized society, I'd get a baseball bat, bash his face in and cripple both his hands. It's frustrating that our civilized society puts rapists in jail and let's malpractice insurers pay for the crimes of health professionals.
I'm part of that society, and accept that like everyone else I'm obliged to live with its imperfections.
I'm torn between a desire for revenge and a desire to be civilized, while the best I can do is vent.

