A dentist in Alaska who was caught on video removing an unconscious patient’s tooth while riding a hoverboard has been sentenced to 12 years in prison on dozens of charges.
Among other allegations, between May 2015 and February 2017, Seth Lookhart, 35, was accused of unnecessarily sedating Medicaid patients at his Anchorage office, Clear Creek Dental, in order to overbill the public health insurance program almost $2 million, according to charging documents.
During Lookhart’s trial, which started in November 2019, multiple former patients testified against the dentist.
Veronica Wilhelm said in court she was “shocked” and “pretty livid” when investigators shared with her cell phone video shot in July 2016 that showed Lookhart balancing on a hoverboard as he pulled the sedated woman’s tooth, the Anchorage Daily News reported last December.
Lookhart later allegedly texted the video to multiple friends and family, bragging the incident was a “new standard of care.”Seth Lookhart Alaskan dentist hoverboard
“I think what you did was outrageous, narcissistic and crazy,” Wilhelm told Lookhart at trial, noting she still forgave him despite what he did.
However, she added, the dentist had a “high-priced lesson” he was “going to have to learn.”
In January, Lookhart was convicted on a slew of charges, including Medicaid fraud, embezzlement, reckless endangerment and illegally practicing dentistry.
On Sept. 14, 2020, Anchorage Superior Court Judge Michael Wolverton said at sentencing that the IV sedations Lookhart performed nearly claimed the lives of several patients, according to the Anchorage Daily News.
“In reviewing all this over and over again, I have this visceral response — you darn near killed some people,” Wolverton said.
In addition to the 12 years Lookhart must serve behind bars, the judge also banned him from practicing medicine during the decade he will be on probation following his release from prison.
Seth Lookhart Alaskan dentist hoverboard
