AUGUSTA, Maine — The state dropped the remaining 13 complaints against Lewiston oral surgeon Jan Kippax, who was under investigation for three years after 18 patients accused him of misconduct.
The state stopped pursuing its effort to show that Dr. Kippax did anything wrong.
The Maine Board of Dental Practice agreed to drop the remaining 13 complaints after hearing testimony from five patients and finding that he had not performed below the standard of care.
The decision "proves what we have argued all along: the Board’s decision to suspend Dr. Kippax’s license without first affording him due process was an egregious error based on false allegations and a shamefully biased investigation," Kippax's lawyer James Belleau wrote in a statement.
"These cases -- and the tremendously public manner in which rumor and innuendo were spread and suborned by the Board’s Executive Director – demonstrate the importance of due process and serve as a stark example of why licensing boards, attorneys general, members of the media, and all of us should never shoot first and ask questions later. Unfortunately, that rush to judgment and character assassination is exactly what happened here."
Complaints from patients included that he ignored their pain, pulled the wrong teeth, and failed to provide appropriate care before, during, and after operations.
The state dismissed the majority of the individual allegations during the hearing process in 2017.
According to the Maine Board of Dental Examiners' website, complaints and investigative records are confidential while an investigation is pending, with some limited exceptions.
"Complaints are only identified by complaint number on board meeting agendas, and board members avoid referring to the complainant or licensee by name when evaluating the recommendation of the complaint committee. The complaint and the complaint file become public upon the conclusion of an investigation, unless confidentiality is required by some other provision of law. Patient/client treatment records obtained during investigation remain confidential indefinitely."
Belleau said that Kippax had lost his ability to provide care to patients who receive MaineCare after the Board did not reconsider February 2017 suspension of Kippax's license.
"He lost hospital privileges, and he lost countless patients and prospective patients based on the false allegations," Belleau wrote.
Belleau said that on March 9, 2018, the Board refused to reconsider its earlier decision, despite the lack of evidence from expert testimony that Dr. Kippax deviated from the standard of care.
"Over those two years, Dr. Kippax’s career and livelihood have been decimated. He has endured substantial and sustained legal costs. He has lost patients and has been forced to let employees go. He has been painted in a tremendously negative light on television, in the newspapers, and on social media," wrote Belleau.
Belleau also wrote that Dr. Kippax's patients are generally underserved. He said Dr. Kippax cannot provide them care because the Board suspended his license.
"All of this was unnecessary. All of this was the decision of the Board and its Executive Director," wrote Belleau.