Retired Lorain dentist faces another lawsuit in girl’s death

ELYRIA — The retired oral surgeon whose insurance company paid nearly $1 million to settle a lawsuit filed in the death of 13-year-old Marissa Kingery of Elyria was sued again on Tuesday in connection with allegations that he injured a patient last year.

The lawsuit against Dr. Henry Mazorow filed by Carrie Taylor of Lorain seeks an undisclosed amount of damages in excess of $25,000.

It states that Taylor was a patient on Dec. 27, 2010, when she “was injured and was caused to suffer seizures, neurological damage and other severe and debilitating injuries, some of which were permanent in nature.”

Taylor’s attorney, Dean A. Colovas, said Tuesday afternoon that his client is an adult who became ill at Mazorow’s former offices in Lorain.

“In the doctor’s office, she began to experience seizures, and we’re investigating the cause of the seizures,” Colovas said.

A motion attached to the lawsuit seeks a 90-day enlargement of time to file an affidavit of merit, stating “there is strong reason to believe a cause of action exists” against Mazorow and unnamed nurses, dental assistants and/or health care professionals that the suit lists as defendants.

In October, Mazorow’s insurance company settled the lawsuit filed by the parents of 13-year-old Marissa, who died after intravenous sedation before dental surgery.

Reached for comment on the Taylor lawsuit, Mazorow called the allegations “groundless” and said that he was told that Taylor suffered an allergic reaction.

Following Marissa’s death, Mazorow, 81, stopped giving intravenous sedation, and he agreed to retire Sept. 1 after consultation with the Ohio Dental Board.

The settlement documents stated that Marissa died on Jan. 3, 2011, from diffuse hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy due to respiratory arrest caused by complications associated with intravenous sedation during dental surgery, performed Dec. 21, 2010, by Mazorow.

Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy is damage to the brain that also occurs in cases of carbon-monoxide poisoning and many cases of shaken-baby syndrome.

Marissa’s death was ruled accidental by the Cuyahoga County coroner. The coroner’s report stated that the drugs propofol — an anesthetic that was listed as a “contributing factor” in pop star Michael Jackson’s death, ketamine, remifentanil and Versed, or midazolam, were administered in Mazorow’s office to Marissa in what is commonly known as “twilight sleep” or light sedation.

Contact Cindy Leise at 329-7245 or cleise@chroniclet.com.



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