Jury awards woman $14.8M after jaw surgeries

SPOKANE — A Spokane jury has awarded a woman $14.8 million after finding that a local dentist was negligent in performing a series of surgeries in 2000 and 2001 that left her jaw fused shut.

Kimberly Kallestad, a 29-year-old former Washington State University student, is permanently disabled, in chronic pain and unable to work.

She went to Spokane oral surgeon Patrick Collins after injuring her jaw while sledding. She says he claimed he had a near-perfect success rate with a jaw surgery technique he'd developed and that he'd become her "hero" by fixing her jaw.

Other patients who had trouble with Collins testified during the trial that he'd said similar things to them.

Collins did not appear in Superior Court as the verdict was delivered Tuesday. His lawyer said he plans to appeal.