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Sunshine state dentist accused of malpractice and child abuse.
A dentist is accused of harming the most vulnerable of patients, young children. At the same time, he is accused of collecting millions of dollars in Medicaid payments for procedures that his patients didn’t need or want, according to CNN.
A former employee, who worked only briefly for Dr. Howard Schneider, told ActionNewsJax that she’s haunted by the experience.
“It was horrible. Him putting his hand over the children’s mouth(s), yelling at them, getting close to their ear, telling them they better shut up,” said the woman, who’s cooperating with authorities. She asked not to be identified because she works for another dentist in the area.
“He didn’t like for you to be nurturing and make them feel at ease. He wanted you to be rough. He would get angry when you would try to calm them down,” she said in the ActionNewsJax story posted Thursday.
Schneider’s wife filed for divorce last Friday, claiming her husband of 15 years blocked her from their accounts. ActionNewsJax has reported that the practice made nearly $4 million in Medicaid payments since 2010.
As her husband’s longtime office manager, Deborah Schneider was responsible for the Medicaid billing, according to an ActionNewsJax story posted Wednesday. The attorney general would not confirm if Mrs. Schneider is also being investigated, the story said.
Last week, nearly 100 parents packed an emotional town hall meeting after weeks of protests outside his office, demanding he close his practice. Schneider inflamed the situation when he told ActionNewsJax that he’s done nothing wrong.
“I’m pissed off,” Schneider told ActionNewsJax in a story published May 13. “I’m a good dentist. I do nothing wrong. I give these kids the best treatment.”
ActionNewsJax broke the story in April, when the protests began at Schneider’s office. Parents waved signs claiming he hurt their children. According to an April 29 story, court records show that Schneider was a defendant in two malpractice suits in Duval County in 1995.
Department of Children and Families officials told ActionNewsJax that state law prevents them from releasing any information on past or current investigations into abuse, unless a child dies.
Agencies/Canadajournal
