If you thought your dentist was a bit intimidating, you may want to check out “Dr.” Joseph Hirsch, 59. Hirsh is accused of practicing dentistry in Redwood (CA) without a license. Then there is the problem of the unsanitary office and his alleged meth cooking operation. Hirsch’s dental operation included a pair of brass knuckles, which presumably were used for extractions.
Police also report finding an assortment of drugs and other weapons at Thermo Dental.
He had an array of dental equipment including an x-ray machine and dental tools.
He may have been operating for years. I expect he had little problem on bill collection.
Considering the number of injured/dead patients, legal malpractice, crashes, shootings, etc., it seems a ‘license’ does not necessarily confer nor guarantee competence.
A ‘license’ is only permission from the government to do what is otherwise be illegal for anyone else:
– Medical/Dental – Drivers – Pilots – Law – Business – Concealed Gun Carry
– (your favorite government permission slip here)
Q: Why doesn’t a person need a ‘license’ to be a politician? cop?
SkaterDude – cops usually go to the Police Academy (remember the 6 movies with that title)? They have to graduate and then be employed by a force. However, I am with you on politicians. There should be a series of courses, including several on ethics. Plus, psych eval test. No sociopaths or psychopaths or narcissists allowed.
When you don’t have a license to prescribe, it’s always easier to cook up a batch in your own lab.
This guy has chutzpah!
Google search says the first dental school in the world wasn’t founded till 1840. So this dude was a throwback from earlier times. Lol.
I imagine most of his work was done for Hells Angels. And other druggies.
Very funny.
Ter ber – did he take insurance or was he only cash in hand?
Lol. What ever he wanted.
Did dentist use laughing gas which is nitrous oxide? For the kids. And then use brass knuckles for filling & cleaning. Show the bill.
The real question at hand is did they do him for the meth and then find out about the dentistry or vice versa. For all we know he could be a heck of a dentist. How did he rate on Google?
The article is silent regarding the amount of time in which this specific individual engaged or participated in this charade. Weeks? Months? Years? Decades? Also, how many complaints were lodged, over what span of time, including the serious nature of said complaints and the names of those agencies, associations or boards receiving the grievances? I don’t find this article particularly humorous, despite the insertion of a photo depicting, what appears to be, an obese biker sporting an ungodly moustache. I cringe when I imagine how many, unsuspecting patients–potentially, dozens, hundreds, or thousands–who were, needlessly, exposed to this fraudster, including the needless exposure to any assortment blood-borne diseases, such as hepatitis and HIV.
Where was the California Board of Dentistry, which, I assume, has the responsibility of regulating the practice of dentistry? Asleep at the wheel, siphoning dues from its members yet, for the most part, remaining lax and incompetent in its charge to protect the public from harm? The failure to act, in a more timely and vigilant manner, if, in fact, that is the case, should be actionable–and, I don’t just mean via a civil lawsuit. If this dirt bag is going to be charged, criminally, then the same should go for those who failed to vigorously protect the health and well being of the community.
The real problem is that in these days of everything being online, a man could practice medicine or dentistry for years without any sort of immediate recognition of this crime by state health departments.
Fortunately, this is a rare event.
indeed darren -unlicensed dental and medical practitioners horrify me. People’s health is in their hands and it is a sorry business that ordinary people are tempted to use them due to lower fees and maybe inability to afford anything more.
Licensed practitioners go through years of study and exams so we can trust them but naturally they cost.
Time for a thorough overhaul of the system as president trump has promised
He’d make a great BDSM Dungeon Master! No license required for that!
i don’t imagine he had problems with patients paying their bills.
He could look at a kid and the kid would shed his teeth.
If he is a meth head then his face can henceforth be the poster boy for meth heads.
Avoid dentists. Avoid doctors. Avoid lawyers and Indian Chiefs.