Paul Serdula, a former CRNA, is serving life in prison.

A CRNA who pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting dozens of sedated female patients is in prison for life, but an appeals court has ruled that the dental practice where most of the attacks took place is solely responsible for a $3.7 million verdict.

In upholding a jury decision to apportion 100% of liability to the Atlanta dental practice and 0% to the CRNA, a Georgia appeals court has driven home the point that healthcare facilities can be held legally responsible for criminal acts perpetrated by employees and independent practitioners.

Paul Serdula, CRNA, is serving a life sentence plus 25 years after investigators discovered that he had molested and sodomized dozens of anesthetized female patients, including at least one child, both at the dental office and at other healthcare facilities.

An unidentified female patient who was briefly left alone with Mr. Serdula while she was heavily sedated sued Goldstein, Garber & Salama, an Atlanta cosmetic dentistry practice. During that time, Mr. Serdula allegedly made 3 brief video recordings, one in which he looked down her shirt at her breasts, another in which he moved her underwear to reveal her vagina and a third in which he placed his penis between her lips. Investigators later discovered the videos and many others when they searched Mr. Serdula's home after his cell phone was found affixed to the underside of a bathroom sink at the dental office, its lens aimed toward a toilet.

In affirming full apportionment of responsibility to the dental practice and denying a request for a new trial, the court majority struck down several objections, asserting among other things that the dentists let Mr. Serdula sedate the woman "at an unnecessarily deep level and for 2 hours more than necessary, [which made her] more vulnerable [and] constituted a violation of the standard of care." The court also agreed with the lower court that "the dentists purporting to supervise Serdula were not qualified or competent to do so [because] they had not undergone the training or earned the certifications required of dentists who would supervise nurse anesthetists."

The majority also agreed that even though there was no evidence that the dentists knew of Mr. Serdula's previous assaults, "the dental profession is aware that [such] assaults do occur, and that it's one of the reasons "that the requirement for monitoring an anesthetized patient existed."

In a scathing dissent, the minority pointed to testimony that patients at the office were rarely left alone for more than a minute or two and that the "vile acts" committed by Mr. Serdula could not be considered "foreseeable as a matter of law."

Goldstein, Garber & Salama did not respond to a request for comment.

Jim Burger