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DAYTON — The dentist accused of failing to change gloves and sterilize dental instruments between patients at the Dayton VA Medical Center angrily denied those claims in his first interview since the scandal broke.
Dr. Dwight M. Pemberton claimed co-workers at the dental clinic accused him of infection control lapses last year to create trouble for the dental clinic’s supervisor, Dr. Andrew Mesaros.
“They all had axes to grind,” Pemberton said of his co-workers, many of whom he claims have checkered work histories. Pemberton claimed accusations against him of infection control lapses “would make Mesaros look bad. ... It worked.”
But the two dental lab technicians who blew the whistle on Pemberton, husband and wife Wallace “Ray” and Sherry Perdue, denied their allegations were meant to bring down Mesaros.
“Dr. Mesaros had done some things against me that I felt were wrongly done, but that had nothing to do with Dr. Pemberton and infection control issues,” Ray Perdue said.
“I didn’t have anything against Dr. Mesaros to take him down for any reason,” Sherry Perdue said. “He should have done something about the infection control” issues.
The Dayton VA recently fired Mesaros, the first termination in a scandal that so far has also led to the reassignment of the Dayton VA’s director, plus testing to see if 535 veterans may have been exposed to bloodborne pathogens.
So far, two patients have tested positive for hepatitis B, while a third has tested positive for hepatitis C.
Testing is under way to try to determine if those three patients were infected at the dental clinic or elsewhere.
Pemberton worked on more than 3,200 patients between 1991 and 2010. He said he’s not infected with hepatitis B or C, or HIV.
Pemberton gave the Dayton Daily News copies of documents in which dental clinic workers were asked if they had ever observed any dentist leaving used or dirty dental equipment in a dental operatory overnight, and then using that equipment the following day without having it cleaned. Nineteen of the 20 people who completed the statement indicated they had not, while the 20th did not answer the question.
The VA claimed it had no knowledge of those documents, and said they weren’t part of its investigation.
Pemberton also provided copies of four performance reviews from recent years — the most recent from federal fiscal 2008-09 — showing he had received outstanding performance reviews from both Mesaros and Mesaros’ predecessor, Dr. Paul Lambert.
“Dr. Pemberton is a respected and valued member of our Dental Service team,” Mesaros wrote in the most recent performance review in 2009.
In July, though, the Perdues told VA inspectors that Pemberton was not following infection control protocols, spurring a months-long investigation that has rocked the Dayton VA. The investigation found several employees earlier had told both Mesaros and Lambert their concerns about Pemberton’s infection control practices, but both supervisors did little to address them.
According to testimony given to the VA, Lambert claimed his efforts to limit Pemberton’s privileges were thwarted by intervention by the NAACP on behalf of Pemberton, who is black. Mesaros initially denied being told about many of the infection control complaints, but later changed his testimony and admitted he had heard the complaints but wasn’t able to substantiate them.
Frequently noting his credentials as a dentist, Pemberton said he was insulted by the accusations. He did, however, recall instances when Mesaros advised him he shouldn’t have gloves on when he left his work area.
“Dwight, you can’t have those gloves on,” Pemberton recalls Mesaros saying. “People are going to think they’re dirty.”
Reached at his Beavercreek home, Mesaros declined comment. Lambert, now at the VA Medical Center in Boise, Idaho, but no longer chief of staff there, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Pemberton claimed the VA also failed to interview dental clinic employees who would have testified in his favor. The VA said more than 30 employees were interviewed, including all witnesses believed to have “relevant material evidence.”
In a Feb. 8 letter, the VA proposed to fire Pemberton on grounds of negligence in infection control, dishonesty, and neglect of duty, as well as misuse of government equipment for doing extensive genealogical research at work. The VA cited incriminating statements against Pemberton by eight other employees in proposing his termination.
Instead, Pemberton, 81, retired Feb. 11.
“I was not going to subject myself to that,” Pemberton said. “Hell, no, and have stuff stacked against me ... and (let the VA) have an excuse to mess with my retirement money?”
Pemberton said he’s trying to secure from the VA a $9,000 performance bonus he claims he is owed for his work in fiscal year 2009-10. Pemberton received an annual salary of $165,878.
Asked by the Dayton Daily News what he had to say to the hundreds of veterans whom the VA said may have been put at risk by his infection control practices, Pemberton, himself a veteran, said, “I wouldn’t say anything. I’m not the expert in that area.” But he went on to say that patients weren’t put at risk and the VA had only “aroused suspicions and doubts and fears” by having veterans tested.
The VA said in a letter proposing Pemberton’s termination that he used agency equipment for personal use “in an excessive manner.”
“You performed genealogical research during duty hours for patients and employees, therefore delaying patient access to dental care and interfering with the efficient operations of Dental Service,” the letter reads. “Your actions and behaviors have been substantiated through the sworn testimony of numerous Dental Service employees, as well as through numerous records found in your office.”
Pemberton said he felt asking patients about their ancestry was appropriate.
“This is my hobby,” he said. “I’ve helped so many people,” noting his research qualified the family member of one patient for a scholarship from the Daughters of the American Revolution.
Pemberton said nothing could detract from his role in starting the Charles Drew Health Center in west Dayton, where he was director of dental services for eight years before joining the Dayton VA in 1977.
“I’ve been working for the well-being and benefit of this entire community ever since I’ve been here, and I’m proud of the things that I’ve done,” he said.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7457 or bsutherly@Dayton DailyNews.com.
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