GREENSBORO, N.C. (WBTV/Gray News) — A North Carolina family says they are demanding answers when it comes to the death of their young child.
David Mitchell and Shardé Sherrill said they brought their 2-year-old son, Er’Mias, to the Valleygate Dental Surgery Center in July for a relatively simple procedure: tooth caps.
However, Er’Mias had a reported medical emergency and died during the operation.
The 2-year-old’s parents said they weren’t notified of the ongoing emergency until after the ambulance with their boy had left the facility, about 40 minutes after the start of the procedure.
They said they ended up driving alone that day to the hospital, 30 minutes away from the surgery center, to find Er’Mias. But by then, it was too late to say goodbye.
“You sat there, you waited, you never notified his parents,” Constance McCrae, Sherrill’s aunt, shared. “You took this baby alone in an ambulance and told them they needed to go to the hospital …?”
Valleygate’s CEO, Virginia Jones, issued a letter to partners and employees this week, saying they still did not know what caused the child’s death.
“Let me be clear, we do not yet know what caused Er’mias’ tragedy,” Jones wrote in the letter. “We may never know. While exceedingly rare, unexpected events can occur, even under the most carefully controlled circumstances.”
Jones said the team worked on providing professional care that day, but regrets the delay in telling Er’Mias’ parents.
“The medical, dental, nursing, EMS, and hospital staff who responded to Er’mias did so with professionalism and did everything they could to prevent this tragedy,” Jones wrote. “In the urgency of the situation, our focus was solely on providing care. We regret that this prevented us from notifying his family sooner and recognize how painful that delay was.”
The family held a planned protest for Er’Mias outside the Greensboro dental facility on Sept. 25, demanding accountability for his death.
“Actions were unethical and we need answers as to why,” the family’s flyer said.
Greensboro police have an ongoing investigation into Er’Mias’ death, as does the North Carolina State Board of Dental Examiners.
The Valleygate team said they were “heartbroken” by the tragic event.
“Our thoughts are with their family and loved ones during this unimaginably difficult time,” Jones shared in July.
According to Er’Mias’ parents, they were previously told that there had been an issue with the anesthesia and Er’Mias’ lungs. They had asked for the medical records for the visit, but hadn’t yet received them to verify what had happened.
Loved ones said Er’Mias was healthy, and they weren’t told of any risk before the procedure.
“This baby was going for dental work … dental work,” McCrae said. “It wasn’t like he was going for open heart surgery.”
Valleygate was founded in 2017 and operates several dental surgery centers around North Carolina.
Since its founding, Jones wrote that Valleygate has safely cared for nearly 30,000 patients.
Earlier this month, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services issued a cease-and-desist letter to the Greensboro facility. The letter cited a ream of inspection issues with a $2 million renovation that had been wrapping up at the time of Er’Mias’ death.
Documents from the state said the facility had not obtained the appropriate permissions for the renovation, where an inspection found almost two dozen problems with the three new operating rooms created during the project.
Earlier this week, Valleygate sent a report to the state saying all the issues had been fixed and requested a new inspection.
“Measured against the wide scope of requirements by numerous regulatory agencies, the findings were minimal and confirm strong overall performance,” Jones responded in a statement. “Valleygate Dental Surgery Center in Greensboro remains open, operational, licensed and authorized to provide critical dental services.”