Three dental office employees have been fired over a ‘disrespectful’ act towards a cancer patient.
Three dental office employees have been fired over a ‘disrespectful’ act towards a cancer patient.
Shocking video has emerged showing staff members at a dental firm in the US relentlessly mocking a cancer patient after taking their personal diary and reading it out loud.
Three dental workers at American firm Premier Dental Group of Knoxville filmed themselves laughing as they read highly personal diary entries from a woman who was diagnosed with cancer.
“Found a patient’s journal and now it’s story time lmfao,” the employee captioned the video.
Some of the excerpts read out loud talked about the patient’s heartbreaking concerns regarding her treatment options and hesitation about specific procedures, local media KVUE reported.
One employee was seen reading the diary out loud before the camera pans to a second sitting on the floor leaning in amused at the patient’s concern there are “not any other treatment options”.
The video was uploaded online showing employees reading a cancer patient's personal diary.
A third employee was also videoed sitting in the room scrolling on his phone as he listened to his colleagues mock the cancer patient. Despite not showing interest, he does not intervene during the incident.
It is not known how the dental employees got hold of the woman’s diary or why they decided to read it.
The footage has since sparked outrage online with people slamming the employees’ cruel act.
I was waiting to post this so I could talk to the office manager. Three employees at Premier Dental Group of Knoxville decided to go into the managers office after a patient had left their personal journal and get the journal and read it. Not only did they read it they recorded it and thought it was quite comical as they read aloud about this ladies health issues. It's pretty disturbing that these girls thought this was funny and to think they handle patients private information EVERYDAY. So there's no telling what they're doing with everyone else's personal information. If this is your dental office I would suggest switching dentists, that isn't ok. You take an oath in the medical field and these girls clearing disregarded that oath! #fypシ゚viral#fypシ゚viral#fypシ゚viral#fypシ゚viral#fypシ゚viral#fypシ゚viral#fypシ゚viral
One wrote: “It’s pretty disturbing that these girls thought this was funny and to think they handle patients’ private information EVERYDAY.”
Another said: ‘So there’s no telling what they’re doing with everyone else’s personal information.”
Premier Dental Group of Knoxville apologised online about the “inappropriate video created and shared by some of our employees that addressed an individual’s medical condition in a disrespectful and unprofessional manner”.
“First and foremost, we want to extend our sincere apologies to the individual or individuals affected by this video, as well as their family and friends.
“This behaviour does not reflect the values of Premier Dental Group of Knoxville, nor does it meet the standards we hold ourselves to when it comes to respecting the dignity and privacy of others.
“We take this matter very seriously,” they wrote in a now-deleted post on Facebook.
They went on to say they are working to “resolve this issue” and “ensure that it never happens again”.
A spokesperson for PDG confirmed to the New York Post the female employees involved in the incident were fired “effective immediately”.
According to local media, the male in the video kept his job as it was determined he didn’t participate in the incident.
One of the women who lost her job due to the video has broken her silence and shared a savage response to the heat she has received online.
She posted a video of herself with the caption: “When you go viral for being a piece of sh*t.”
One of the employees fired for the video has since hit back, posting a video of herself with the caption 'when you go viral for being a piece of s**t'.
The video was posted online, where she claims there are “two sides” to every story.
It’s not the dental clinic’s first scandal.
In 2023, the practice agreed to pay around US$1 million to settle a lawsuit over allegations of scamming the Tennessee Medicaid programme.
The lawsuit alleged that the provider also used unqualified dental hygienists, upcoded procedures that weren’t actually needed or performed, and treated patients like “cattle” to try to maximise profits.
