Anesthesia Death: Lessons from the Courtroom

Dr. Robert received his BS in Applied Biology from Georgia Institute of Technology and his DDS from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. During his undergraduate and dental training he conducted research in bioengineering and then while in the U.S. Army conducted bone graft research at the Letterman Army Institute of Research. He completed his oral and maxillofacial surgery training at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He is currently in private practice and is Clinical Professor in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at the University of California Medical Center in San Francisco in the OMFS residency program.  He directs the Office Anesthesia curriculum and co-directs the curricula in Major Surgical Anatomy and Dentoalveolar Surgery.  He teaches courses for post graduate students from several specialties in anesthesia, emergency preparedness, orthognathic surgery, dentoalveolar surgery, anatomy and physiology, embryology and clinical photography. He is recipient of the Outstanding Educator of the Year Award and the Distinguished Colleague Award at the School of Dentistry at UCSF. Dr. Robert has been active in hospital affairs and chaired the sections of Oral Surgery and Dentistry at Mt. Zion Hospital in San Francisco and Seton Medical Center in Daly City, California. 

 
Dr. Robert is active in numerous committees and councils of the California Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons and the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons.  He lectures nationally and internationally on a variety of topics including anesthesia, emergency preparedness, management of medical emergencies and orthognathic surgery.  He chaired the Task Force which created the AAOMS DVD on Anesthesia and has authored chapters on anesthesia and pharmacology in current textbooks and articles in oral and maxillofacial surgery journals.  He has been the recipient of the Committee Person of the Year on three occasions, the President’s Award, and the Distinguished Service Award of the California Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons and the AAOMS Committee Person of the Year Award. He has participated in the California Careforce and local outreach programs to provide care for the underserved.

Mr. Curley is a senior trial attorney in the California healthcare defense firm of Bradley, Curley, Barrabee & Kowalski, PC. After graduating from the University of California, Berkeley with honors in 1970, he obtained his J.D. in 1974 from the UC Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Dental Jurisprudence at the Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry in San Francisco and an Adjunct Faculty Professor at the University of California, San Francisco. As a trial attorney, he has been defending doctors for over 46 years and has presented risk management courses throughout the United States and Canada. He is an associate of the American Board of Trial Advocates. Mr. Curley has published several articles on risk management and authored chapters in numerous text books on oral surgery, endodontics and periodontics.