Dental Staff Fired For Reading Aloud, Laughing, And Mocking Cancer Patient's Diary In Viral Snapchat Video
A dental office's staff in Tennessee has been fired after a video went viral of the workers mocking a cancer patient's diary.
The video, which was originally posted to Snapchat, was captioned: "Found a patients journal and now its story time lmao." Surrounding staff members could be heard laughing while the diary entries about the patient's cancer treatments and medical procedures were read aloud.
NEW: Dental staff filmed laughing at and mocking a cancer patient's private diary while reading it out loud.
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) August 13, 2024
Scum.
Staff members at Premier Dental Group in Knoxville, TN were filmed laughing at the diary of a cancer patient.
The diary discussed the patient's concerns with… pic.twitter.com/GbmE9Da1A9
Staff at the Premier Dental Group was captured mocking the journal entries in the office, according to 'Fox News.' It is unknown to whom the journal belongs.
"I'm not going to do any dialysis, radiation treatment or infusions," one diary entry read. A female worker dressed in black scrubs can be seen flipping through the diary and reading aloud personal passages about the patient's concerns.
The employer released a statement, per the outlet, announcing "they are aware of an incident where employees were involved in videoing inappropriate behavior. This conduct is completely unacceptable and does not align with our company values."
"As a result, the employees responsible have been terminated, effective immediately," the statement continued. "We are committed to maintaining a respectful and professional environment for everyone, and we will continue to take necessary actions to uphold these standards."
The male employee who did not participate in the banter, but was seen on the video sitting at a desk and scrolling on his phone, was not terminated after an investigation. It is unclear the number of employees who participated or who specifically read the patient's diary.
Shortly after publishing an apologetic statement, Premier Dental Group not only deleted their remarks, but their entire social media profile disappeared.
Since the video's release, the Premier Dental Group of Knoxville's social media business pages were bombarded on Yelp with negative reviews.
This isn't the first time PDG was caught up in a public scandal.
The clinic once settled a $1 million claim for Medicaid fraud involving misleading charges and unsafe practices, according to 'Outlook.'
Per the United States Attorney's Office in 2023, "Dr. Michael Sawaf and his affiliated company Premier Dental Group PLLC of Knoxville, f/k/a Orthodontic Designs by Michael Sawaf, PLLC ("PDG"), have agreed to pay $985,541 to resolve allegations that they knowingly and improperly submitted false claims for dental services to TennCare in violation of the False Claims Act ("FCA") and the Tennessee Medicaid False Claims Act ("TMFCA")."
The press release announced "The settlement also resolves allegations that, between August 14, 2019, and September 11, 2019, PDG knowingly submitted, or caused the submission of, claims for payment to TennCare that falsely identified credentialed dentists as the rendering provider for services that were actually rendered by uncredentialed dentists who were ineligible to bill TennCare."
