February 11, 2008 by SUM.

Today, I would like to summarize the results of my Crest Night Effects experience. As the situation is now, my teeth were damaged by Crest Night Effects, I received a misdirected and faulty examination at the UW Dental Clinic, and afterwards I was charged for an examination that should have never taken place.

At the end of November 2007, I wrote a letter to the UW in which I stated my concerns about the misdirected and faulty examination and a billing that I consider unjust. As of this day I haven’t received a reply from the UW, but since that day I haven’t received any other letters from the collection agency.

For the past few months I followed more closely news article about medical mistakes and how hospitals will handle the billing process. One article stated that hospitals will tear up bills for medical mistakes. The article was written on January 29th in the Seattle Times. In the article I read the following: ‘”If we can avoid adding insult to injury where patients have been affected by an adverse event, then we’re taking a step that is right,” said Dr. Brian Wicks, president of the state Medical Association.’ I felt the insult to injury as well.

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July 17, 2007 by SUM.

A couple years ago I saw a car parked, with the words “Invisible Fence” painted on it, on a parking lot at an Antique Mall, which I visited quite often. You all have heard the words “glass ceiling”. It is an invisible but unmistakable barrier; not only on the career ladder of a woman, but also of another member of a demographic minority within an organization.

Due to my experiences here in the Bellevue, Redmond, and Seattle area, I’m experiencing another kind of barrier, or let’s call it discriminatory boundary. I know I’m entitled to the claims described under Crest Night Effects. As of today, I have written more than 40 attorneys in this area and informed them of my two claims that call for taking legal action. But nobody showed serious interest in helping me in this matter. Some replied, while the majority kept silent. A few attorneys actually gave me either odd and/or incompetent counsel.

I believe that some of my experiences were not only purposefully orchestrated, but also meant with the intent to mislead. Read the articles about the Lake Washington Technical College. My experiences there had been purposefully manipulated, too. And these aren’t the only places, where I experienced purposefully planned manipulation and deception.

Posted in Attorney consultation, Wellness, Malpractice, Stage, Crest Night Effects, Doctor's visits, Personal care, General | No Comments »

June 16, 2007 by SUM.

Since June 8th I’ve written a short message to several lawyers who handle malpractice and personal injury claims stating my claims and pointing to my ShadowBlog site, where they can get more detailed information. Due to not receiving any reply from quite a few lawyers, I decided to contact a few more.

As of today I received two answers. One lawyer sent me the name of another lawyer. And I wrote this lawyer an email last Monday. Another lawyer wrote me to contact an attorney who I actually had contacted already at the end of 2004. And that lawyer had not only been not supportive, he had advised me to consult with the UW dental clinic where the malpratice took place.

The lawyer who wrote me today pointed out that “Damages including reasonable attorney fees can be awarded for filing frivolous cases.”

Today, I sent a short reply to this lawyer stating that my claim is not frivolous, and I’ll continue writing about my claims and pursue getting legal counsel to take legal actions.

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June 12, 2007 by SUM.

Last Friday I wrote fife lawyers in this area an email and informed them of my malpractice and product liability claim. Though I received an answer from two of the lawyers I had written, neither one of them is interested in helping me to pursue my claims. But one attorney gave me the name of another attorney to contact. I wrote this attorney an email message yesterday, too. In the next few weeks I’ll focus on contacting lawyers and pointing them to my website where they can get some essential info about my claims.

While I searched for attorneys in this area and reading articles about malpractice suits in the newspapers, I read the article “What the state didn’t know about doctor, malpractice suit” in the Seattle Times. Reading this article reminded me of my own malpractice encounters after consulting with physicians in the Seattle/Bellevue/Redmond area. I not only got severely ill after some preventive medical procedures, I didn’t receive correct treatment either.

All this was very frightening, and I thought that I needed to report this at least to the Department of Health and an insurance company. Though I didn’t pursue any legal actions, I know I had to report the injury and mistreatment to someone who is responsible for overseeing the health care system. For me it was ‘the right thing to do.’ But after having read this article, I’m not sure anymore whether it was sufficient to report the incidents only to the Department of Health and an insurance company who didn’t investigate the case properly.

I’m coming to the conclusion that I should have taken legal steps in these cases, too. I’ll describe some of the malpractice incidents, in a chronological order as they happened, on this website, too, under the theme ‘malpractice.’

And I’ll keep you informed about my claims against the UW dental school and the company who manufactured Crest Night Effects and/or sold the product.

Posted in Attorney consultation, Wellness, Crest Night Effects, Personal care, Doctor's visits, General | No Comments »

March 28, 2007 by SUM.

After my sister returned to Germany, I felt like concentrating on the task to pursuit justice. Thus I decided to give attorney L. a call. I called him on Friday, 10th December.

On the phone he told me that I must have proof that Crest Night Effects caused the damage. I mentioned that another attorney had written me that I may have a viable case, but his workload does not allow taking on mine. And attorney L. answer to that was, “They use this wording because he thinks that you don’t have a case. They are dishonest.” And he added that he is working in this field for 34 years. At this moment I was stunned. I just felt very uneasy hearing that. It certainly didn’t increase my confidence in the legal system.

Attorney L. had a very forceful and dominant voice and he projected an intimidating personality. He asked me which dentist had seen my teeth. And when he heard that I had consulted with a dentist in Vancouver, BC, he said to me, “The laws in Canada are different, and it would be expensive to have a dentist giving testimony here.” Therefore he wanted me to have someone from the UW dental clinic look at my teeth and confirm that Crest Night Effects caused the damage. He added that I should see someone in the “restorative department.” But he didn’t give me a specific name from a person whom I should contact.

While we talked on the phone he asked me to hold so that he could check on the Internet whether adverse reactions had been reported about this product. I heard him mumbling that the number 18 is discontinued and that they use now peroxides. And he suggested that I’d call him again after I had consulted with a professor at the UW clinic. He too mentioned that I have three years to find an attorney.

After this phone call my hope in the justice system were certainly not up, but I knew that I had to continue what I think is right. Therefore I called the UW dental department to get an appointment at the clinic. Since I didn’t know whom I actually should consult with I made an appointment with the dental department that performs the initial examinations. I hoped that they would refer me to the right department and person after I had talked to them. My appointment with the UW clinic was set for February 7th, 2005.

So, in my next posts I’ll describe the different encounters at the UW dental clinic and what followed thereafter.

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March 27, 2007 by SUM.

Being all by myself with no help or support from qualified people and feeling stonewalled and roadblocks thrown in my way I took the advise from the reception clerk at the King County courthouse library and contacted the King County Bar Association.

Instead calling their office I wrote the President a certified letter on Wednesday, 17th September asking for his advise. When I sent off the letter, the postal clerk asked me whether I wanted to be notified when they received my letter. Since there was no doubt in my mind that he would answer, I declined the additional costs. I just replied, “He’ll write me.”

On the same day I noticed the November 2004 magazine from the Smithsonian Institute in the gym. It had as a cover story “George Washington…tricks, lies, and slander.” Seeing this cover article reminded me that I had experienced the weirdest things here that I consider tricks, lies, and slander. When I was at the postal office to mail the letter to the King County Bar Association, I noticed two guys who wrapped a parcel that had the words ‘Keep refrigerated’ on it. And one of the guys looked from behind just like a man I had met in 1997. He was easily recognizable because he was bald and quite tall. Since strange things had happened when I had met this person, I felt that it might not be just a coincidence that a look-alike showed up at the postal office nor the magazine with an article about George Washington displayed at the gym. By the way, the person’s name I had met in 1997 was George.

The next day I received a call from a person who stated that he is a trial lawyer and that he had gotten my phone number from the King County Bar Association. His name was S. and he lived in Bellevue. He asked me about my case, and while I told him a little bit about it, he suddenly discontinued the call and told me that he had to take another call, but he would call me back.

After a while my phone rang again, but this time an office clerk C. from the King County Bar Association contacted me. She told me that she had given attorney S. who had just contacted me my phone number. After talking to her very briefly, attorney S. called me back from his cell phone in his car, and he told me that I should contact another lawyer. He gave me the same name, attorney L., which I had received from office clerk M. He also said that attorney L. is knowledgeable about dental claims.

That evening at 8:45 PM I received a call from a woman who asked for Mrs. Long. I mention this here because I had seen a pick-up truck with the name Long many times at a neighbor’s house, and I had often received a call whereas the person asked for Mrs. Long. That evening I decided to dial the automatic re-dial service to find out who had called me, and the phone number given to me was from Little Rock, Arkansas. There was no doubt in my mind that this had been a planned phone call.

In the coming weeks I was busy with different errands and having one of my sisters as a visitor. Therefore I didn’t contact attorney L. until the beginning of December. I’ll write about this encounter and the events that followed thereafter in article VI and VII.

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March 26, 2007 by SUM.

After I had received the forms from attorney K. to authorize him to ask the dentist in Vancouver and Redmond as well as the Lake Washington Technical College questions in my behalf, I walked by his office to drop off the paperwork personally. That was on Tuesday, 5th October. He stated that his assistant would contact the dentists and the LWTC and it would take a while to get the results from them.

While I visited him, I thought that he might be interested to see the damage done to my teeth. The damage isn’t so easy to see because of my dentition. I asked him whether he wanted to see for himself the damaged teeth and he agreed. After he had taken a closer look, he said “It does not look natural…It’s not what you expected.”

I certainly didn’t expect that this product would damage my teeth. As I mentioned before, I have used tooth-whitening strips before and I never had any problems. But the product that I had bought at Costco was totally different. It was a white cement-like paste and it acted like an abrasive on my teeth.

Now, I was patiently waiting for a letter from attorney K. telling me how he would help me in this case. I received his letter on November 16th. Included were also duplicates of my LWTC file.

He wrote that he feels compelled to decline any further representation in this matter because he thought that I have not a particularly strong chance of proving that Crest Night Effects actually caused the damage. And he suggested that the damage to my teeth had already existed before, but due to the tooth whitening, which had lightened my teeth, the damage had been brought to my attention. Therefore this would not be sufficient for a successful legal case.

When I read this, I thought that he denied me that I actually spoke the truth (I knew that my teeth have not had this damage before I applied Crest Night Effects). Additionally, he never cared to take a look at the product, which I claim had caused the damage. Though I’m not familiar with legal jargon, he used some unusual wording for an attorney. He wrote that I am complaining. But as I said before, I’m not familiar in legal matters. I know that he spelled the name of the product incorrectly throughout the document; the letter ‘s’ was missing.

He also suggested that I might want to consult with another attorney. And that is actually what I decided to do then. So, my next posts will describe the encounters with another attorney and dental clinics here in Seattle.

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March 21, 2007 by SUM.

As soon I noticed that this product had damaged my teeth I informed the companies that I thought are responsible and should be held accountable for the damage (Proctor & Gamble and/or Costco), and I reported this incident to the FDA MedWatch program, too. Additionally, I contacted several lawyers in Seattle who deal with product liability cases. But there are only a few of them around. In my letters I described what had happened to me and I attached the info from the dentist in Vancouver. The responses I received were as follows:

I. On 5th August I received a letter from attorney B. He responded that I may have a viable claim, but given their current caseload, they are unable to take on this matter.

II. On 19th August I received an email from the lawyer firm P. The office assistant wrote that their office is not interested because of the high cost involved in product liability cases and my case may cost more to prove than a jury might award as compensation. Thus she advised me to consult with a lawyer who handles dental malpractice cases because he may have other cases of the same type. And she gave me his name (attorney L.) and phone number.

III. In between I spoke on the phone to an attorney C. who had not replied to my letter. When I hadn’t heard anything back from him, I gave his office a call. They told me that they had not received my letter. I spoke with a person who told me after asking a few questions what the dentist had suggested that he needed to talk to his managing partner and that he’ll call me back. He called me back after 5PM and told me that they had decided not to take my case. He asked me whether I knew the statue of limitations. After I said that I didn’t know them, he said that they are 3 years and that I have plenty of time to find a lawyer, and he wished me “good luck”. I have heard this expression quite often here, after nobody wanted to help me.

IV. Early Monday morning, 23rd August, I received a call from attorney K. who suggested that I’ll talk to him after certain events took place: he suggested to talk to him on 8th September after the Labor Day weekend and his return from his vacation in Canada, BC, and after I had received an estimate for the costs of the repair.

V. Additionally, I received from attorney F. the response not being able to represent me. That was on 27th August. They also mentioned that “the statutes of limitations in Washington provide that no product liability claim shall be commenced more than 3 years from the date of the incident or 3 years from the date the claimant discovered or in the exercise of due diligence have discovered the harm and its cause.”

While I was searching for an attorney who would support me, I felt pretty lousy. I just had my teeth damaged and now they were quite sensitive and hurting, too. Here I like to mention that the pain is gone, but the teeth are still in damaged condition.

While all this went on I tried to get a bit more knowledgeable about legal stuff. On Tuesday 17th August I decided to go to the King County court house to visit their library and see whether I could find an attorney who handled a product liability case that is similar in nature that what I experienced. But not knowing the system and having no help from anyone who is willing to help you is quite an undertaking. The library clerk gave me the phone number for the lawyer referral service and a number that I could call in case I want to complain about a lawyer.

Now, you must know that I experienced the most unusual events here in the Bellevue/Redmond/Seattle area, which I will talk about at another time. But I would like to mention here though I don’t know the legal system, it appears to me that I was purposefully put off or not helped at all.

On the day I went to the King County library, I spoke to a woman from the prosecutor’s office. She told me that before I can talk to a prosecutor the police has to contact the prosecutor and I need a case number from the police. Additionally she said that the police hat to investigate what I’m saying because they don’t know whether they can believe me.

I also visited the Seattle library on that day to check out whether they have articles about tooth whitening complaints or court cases thereof.

After I had talked to attorney K. early morning on 23rd August, I went by the LWTC to pick up the x-rays that had been made from my teeth in February. The clerk told me that the file didn’t state any damage to my frontal teeth. B., the student at the LWTC, had thoroughly examined my teeth and written up a detailed report. Additionally, an attending dentist had checked my teeth, too, and verified the condition of my teeth. I received the x-rays and only a standard copy that other dentists receive. They didn’t give me a copy of the report that B. had written up. Therefore I just asked the clerk whether the detailed report files would be released if the court orders so. And she confirmed that.

On September 2nd I consulted with a dentist who had done some work on my teeth while I still had dental insurance. I only visited his office to get an estimate for the repair costs. Dr. M. said that he couldn’t testify that Crest Night Effects caused the damage to my teeth because he had not seen my teeth for some time. I understood that and it actually had never crossed my mind that he should testify. I replied that I knew that he couldn’t testify about the condition of my teeth because he hasn’t seen me for the past few years and that I just consulted him today to receive an estimate for the repair of my teeth.

I knew that I had documented prove that my frontal teeth had been just fine while they were thoroughly examined at the LWTC in February/March 2004. And that was 4 months before I used Crest Night Effects on my teeth. I mentioned to Dr. M. that the student A. at the LWTC and the dentist in Vancouver could give their testimonials. And I gave him a copy of the written statement from the dentist in Vancouver and my current x-rays.

After I had received Dr. M.’s written estimate and the Labor Day weekend had passed by I contacted by phone attorney K., and he asked me to sign paperwork so that I authorize him to ask the dentist questions in my behalf and get the detailed report from LWTC released. That was at the end of September 2004.

Here I would like to end my description of the different events that took place while searching for a lawyer who takes on a product liability case. I’ll write about the experiences with attorney K. in my next post, Crest Night Effects, Part IV.

Additionally, at a later time in my pursuit of justice I contacted the dental malpractice lawyer recommended by office assistant M. and other dental offices. I’ll write about these quite unusual events in Part V, VI, and VII.

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