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Board again revokes Chesapeake dentist's license for 'dangerous' care
By Jessica Larché,
2024-06-12
The Virginia Board of Dentistry revoked Dr. Derrick Broadaway’s license to practice dentistry in Virginia in May, calling him “a danger to the health and welfare of his patients and the public.”
The revocation marked the second time the board had taken the rare action against Broadaway after voting to lift his 2014 revocation in 2019. This, despite public records documenting what the board characterized as the dentist's history of “negligent and dangerous patient care”— a history I began exposing and investigating 12 years ago.
Dentist sentenced for writing bad checks: ‘This is f---ing ridiculous’
“What do you have to say to your patients who’ve had pain?” I asked Broadaway following the board’s vote to revoke his license on May 17, 2024 at the Virginia Department of Health Professions headquarters in Henrico.
“No one’s had any pain,” he replied, following an hours-long hearing where he unsuccessfully defended himself against the assistant Virginia attorney general’s allegations. These allegations of negligence were connected to dozens of patients over nearly two decades.
I first learned of Broadaway in November 2012, when employees of his Chesapeake dental office reached out to me and shared copies of their bounced payroll checks.
I said to him then, “We came to ask you about the paychecks that are bouncing to your employees.”
Watch previous coverage: Chesapeake dentist faced millions in lawsuits
Chesapeake dentist faces millions in medical malpractice lawsuits
He responded, "Oh, I don’t know anything about that.”
I was at the Chesapeake Police Department days later when Broadaway turned himself in on three charges connected to writing bad checks. Broadaway later pleaded guilty to three misdemeanor charges for writing bad checks. He avoided serving time in jail when the judge suspended the one-year sentence imposed on each of those charges.
Broadaway’s bounced checks charges in 2012 prompted me to look deeper into the dentist. I found his troubling— and public— disciplinary history with the Board of Dentistry dating back to 2009.
Watch previous coverage: Patients testify against Chesapeake dentist
Patients testify against Chesapeake dentist
The board’s public records showed dozens of patient complaints to the state about Broadaway, including documentation that he “drilled too deep into [a] tooth resulting in severe pain,” leading to his recommendation for root canal therapy. Records also showed Broadaway failed to inform a patient that he did not finish the root canal therapy he started.
Broadaway also “failed to consistently document names of patients on each page of their respective dental records,” and “failed to document the type and/or amount of anesthesia” in a procedure, according to public records documenting his disciplinary history with the Board of Dentistry.
“If I had known, I would have never stepped foot in that dentist’s office,” former Broadaway patient Rosemary Rogers told me in a 2012 interview .
Watch that interview
Former Broadaway dentistry patient speaks out
Public records from the Board of Dentistry show Broadaway placed an “ill-fitting crown” on her tooth, and “altered [her] records,” with “additions to the entries” on her medical records after she requested a copy of those records. Rogers’ case, in part, led to the board’s suspension of Broadaway in summer of 2012 — and a fine of $20,000.
In fact, public records show the Board of Dentistry routinely reprimanded what they described as Broadaway’s “negligent and dangerous care," “deceptive billing practices," and “recordkeeping violations” with monetary penalties, probation, suspensions, and continuing education.
The Board of Dentistry is a group of licensed dentists and dental hygienists who are appointed by a sitting governor to four-year terms. That means the membership makeup of the board changes over the years. The board is responsible for licensing and reprimanding dentists, which includes the power to revoke a license.
Rogers told me in 2012 she was frustrated that the board— no matter who was serving at any given time— allowed Broadaway to keep his license up to that point.
“What's it going to take for the state to take away his license?" she asked. "How many victims do there have to be?”
Watch previous coverage: Broadaway faces board after suspension
Broadaway faces Board of Dentistry after suspension
The board’s public records show there have been more than 50 patients with confirmed complaints about Broadaway since 2002.
“It’s still the same nightmare that it was the day I walked into his office,” Lamarr Price told me during our interview about his experience with Broadaway in 2013.
Public records show Broadaway left “a root tip” behind during a procedure with Price, causing an “ongoing infection.”
“I did not expect to leave out of [his office] losing teeth. Healthy teeth. That’s what happened,” Price told me me following the May 9, 2014 Board of Dentistry hearing. That hearing ended with the board’s decision to revoke Broadaway’s license — the first time.
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“I’m just elated the justice has finally been served, and I really pray that they do not even think about reinstating his license,” said Rogers during our interview after the initial revocation in 2014.
However, the board’s records show that during a hearing on Dec. 12, 2019, the board voted to reinstate Broadaway’s license to practice in Virginia, stipulating that he practice in a “group (public or private) dental practice setting” and be subject to “unannounced inspections”.
By March 21, 2024, nearly five years after lifting his 2014 revocation, the Board of Dentistry suspended Broadaway's license for claims of "negligent and dangerous care" and "deceptive billing practices". The suspension preceded the May 17, 2024 board hearing that would lead to Broadaway's second revocation.
Two of the board members present the day the board voted to lift his revocation in 2019 — Nathaniel Bryant, D.D.S. and Jamiah Dawson, D.D.S— still serve on the board today, but they were not present at the Board of Dentistry hearing on May 17, 2024. Broadaway defended himself during the hearing against the new list of patient complaints that occurred after the board voted to reinstate his license in 2019.
Watch previous coverage: Embattled dentist’s license could be reinstated in a few years
Embattled dentist's license could be reinstated in a few years
“There is nothing this board can do to make the citizens of the Commonwealth safe [other] than to revoke Mr. Broadaway’s license,” said Sean Murphy, Virginia’s assistant attorney general, during the board hearing about Broadaway's license on May 17.
A woman — referred to as “Patient A” during the hearing and in public records — testified during the May 17 hearing about Broadaway. She testified that he treated her for a hole in her tooth at an emergency dental practice in Arlington, Va.
“The person who was behind the front desk came to assist him [during the procedure],” she said during the public hearing.
She added that she was also concerned about Broadaway's use of Novocaine to treat her pain during her appointment.
“I felt like he gave me a lot of Novocaine," she said during the public hearing. "He’d give me a shot. It still hurt. He’d give more.”
The patient said that encounter left her concerned, so she searched Broadaway’s name online. My news reports came up.
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“I was just shocked and appalled by his history of patient treatment,” she exclaimed.
Broadaway rebutted, “The patient never returned to the office complaining of pain when her treatment was done.”
The patient said she still sought out a second opinion from another Arlington dentist, Dr. Kevin Mistry, who said during the May 17 hearing that Broadaway’s work on the patient was “below the standard of care,” and that Broadaway “nicked [the patient’s] healthy tooth.”
Broadaway responded, “[Dr. Mistry] said the tooth was nicked. I do admit to that. I’m sorry about that.”
Broadaway later disputed Dr. Mistry's additional observations that he failed to recognize and remove decay before placing a temporary crown on the patient's tooth.
As members of the board questioned Broadaway about his dental work, looks of concern and confusion followed many of his answers.
“I admit to an open margin. I’m sorry about that,” Broadaway said about one patient’s procedure while defending himself against other allegations of negligence and deceptive billing practices.
“I’m sorry for anything I’ve done, but it appears that there are some things that were done, [inaudible] that I’ve done, or have not done, based on ignorance and not of incompetence, and I would just hope the board would take that into consideration,” Broadaway said at the end of the hearing.
Moments later, after going into closed session, the board voted to revoke his license to practice dentistry in Virginia.
I asked Broadaway following the hearing, “Why do you keep continuing to practice dentistry when you have a history of negligence?”
Broadaway did not answer me, but that’s a better question for those who have sat on the Board of Dentistry over the years. The board’s director of communications told me members of the board will not answer that question, and instead pointed me to the Board’s public orders.
However, the ever-changing board’s years-long history with Broadaway's is what prompted “Patient A” to speak up, contributing to the evidence that led to Broadaway’s latest revocation.
“I just want to protect other people in the Commonwealth of Virginia from going through the same thing and having the same experience,” she said.
“Your patients will watch this,” I said to Broadaway, giving him another opportunity to address the revocation last month. “What do you have to say to them?”
He responded, “Have a nice day.”
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The board’s revocation of Broadaway’s license does not mean his days as a dentist are done. According to the revocation order from the Board of Dentistry, Dr. Broadaway can seek reinstatement after three years. Three-fourths of the board would have to approve it.
As I’ve reported, state medical boards have a history of allowing some doctors with troubling pasts the ability to keep their licenses. So, how do you protect yourself? In the video below, I’m walking you through how to look up any licensed medical professional’s disciplinary history in Virginia:
Watch: News 3's Jessica Larche explains how to look up disciplinary records for licensed medical professionals in Va.
News 3's Jessica Larche explains how to look up disciplinary records for licensed medical professionals in Va.
If the link in the video above does not work for you, click here .
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