Idlibi v. State Dental Commission

Citations

• 212 Conn. App. 501

Syllabus

The plaintiff dentist appealed from the judgment of the trial court dismissing his administrative appeal from the final decision of the defendant Con- necticut State Dental Commission. The plaintiff had treated a minor patient under general anesthesia for the placement of stainless steel crowns in the patient's mouth. Initially, the patient's mother was told that the treatment plan required the placement of only one steel crown and that additional teeth may need fillings, but that such treatment plan could not be finalized until after X-rays were taken during the procedure. Thereafter, the plaintiff placed eight crowns in the patient's mouth, without the knowledge or informed consent of the patient's mother. Subsequently, she filed a complaint with the Department of Public Health, which brought a statement of charges against the plaintiff, alleg- ing that his dental license was subject to disciplinary action pursuant to statute (§ 20-114 (a)). The commission found, inter alia, that the plaintiff failed to meet the applicable standard of care in treating the patient. On the plaintiff's appeal to this court, held: 1. The commission's claim that the trial court lacked subject matter jurisdic- tion to hear the plaintiff's administrative appeal was unavailing; although the plaintiff sent the appeal via certified mail to the department, rather than to the commission, as required by statute (§ 4-183), the record demonstrated that the address for both the department and the commis- sion was essentially the same but for the name of the agency to which the mail was addressed, the commission did not claim that the appeal was untimely, that it did not have actual notice or that it was prejudiced by the plaintiff's error, the commission filed a timely appearance, and, on these bases, the plaintiff's failure to properly serve the commission was akin to a defect in the service of process, rather than a total failure to serve the agency. 2. The trial court properly determined that