Local News in Brief : Santa Ana : Dentist Denied Appeal in Patient Death Cases

A state appellate court on Monday again upheld the 1984 murder convictions of Tony Protopappas, the Costa Mesa dentist who gained nationwide notoriety after three patients died under his care.

The 4th District Court of Appeal had denied Protopappas’ appeal in June, 1987, but was directed by the state Supreme Court to reconsider the matter after certain legal opinions supporting the appellate ruling were decertified for use as precedents.

A three-member panel of the court in Santa Ana, however, unanimously upheld the jury verdict finding Protopappas guilty of second-degree murder in the deaths of Kim Andreassen, 23, of Huntington Beach; Patricia Craven, 13, of Sacramento, and Cathryn Jones, 31, of Costa Mesa.

All three died following administration of general anesthesia for routine dental work. Andreassen died Sept. 30, 1982; Craven on Feb. 19, 1983, and Jones on Feb. 13, 1983.

Prosecutors charged that Protopappas administered life-threatening doses of anesthetics to the women, or had his unlicensed assistants administer the doses, despite his knowledge of the dangers involved.

According to prosecutors, Protopappas was the first dentist in the United States to be convicted of murder in a patient’s death. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

The case led to a tightening of dental training regulations in California, resulting in more than 140 dentists losing their right to give general anesthesia.