Background: Visage Surgical Institute in Medina, Ohio (Google Maps). Inset: Matthew Miller (Andras Crematory and Funeral Home Alternatives).
An Ohio man underwent a routine dental surgery to have three teeth extracted. While his wife and son waited in the waiting room, he went into cardiac arrest and later died.
Brandy Miller, the widow of 48-year-old Matthew Miller, filed two lawsuits in Ohio”s Cuyahoga County, claiming that Dr. Faisal Quereshy and his staff were negligent when they chose to put Matthew Miller under general anesthesia for his procedure. She also sued Case Western Reserve University, where Dr. Quereshy is a faculty member and where one of the dental assistants present was a research fellow.
On Aug. 4, 2023, Matthew Miller was scheduled to have three teeth removed at the Visage Surgical Institute in Medina, in southwest Cleveland. According to the lawsuit against Quereshy, which was reviewed by Law&Crime, Matthew Miller arrived for his appointment, was put under, and then “desaturated and stopped breathing on his own.”
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After life-saving procedures took place at the facility, Matthew Miller was transported by ambulance to the hospital. He spent four days on life support before he died on Aug. 8, 2023. His cause of death was listed as “acute hypoxic respiratory failure/probably procedural sedation.”
Just over a year after her husband’s death, Brandy Miller sued Quereshy and several members of his staff at Visage Surgical Institute, including the dental assistant who was allegedly “not licensed to practice dentistry,” according to the lawsuit against Case Western Reserve University.
In their answer to the lawsuit, lawyers representing Case Western Reserve University denied all the allegations made by Brandy Miller, and stated that since Matthew Miller was not a patient under the university’s care, Case Western was not at fault.
Local CBS affiliate WOIO obtained a hearing notice sent to Quereshy by the Ohio State Dental Board in connection with the Millers’ case that reportedly noted that Matthew Miller was morbidly obese, which did not make him a good candidate for general anesthesia. In the document, the Board reportedly stated that by putting Matthew Miller under general anesthesia, the patient was at risk to stop breathing during the procedure.
According to the lawsuits, that was exactly what happened. The board further noted that Matthew Miller should have undergone a physical examination by a physician before going under general anesthesia. According to the board, no such examination took place.
In a statement to Law&Crime, Michael Pasternak, an attorney representing Brandy Miller, said, “The Miller family and their friends have and will forever feel the daily pain of Matt’s death, a death that was 100% preventable and should not have happened. The charges brought by the State of Ohio Dental Board against Faisal Quereshy, MD, DDS, as well as what has been uncovered, has made that clear.”
“On Oct. 22, 2025, the State of Ohio Dental Board will begin their public hearings to hear the serious charges brought against Faisal Quereshy, MD, DDS,” Pasternak continued. “That upcoming hearing is the Dental Board’s opportunity to publicly address all that went wrong in Matt’s care.”
“This lawsuit will give a Jury the chance to address Matt’s unnecessary and painful death,” Pasternak added.
Law&Crime reached out to an attorney for Quereshy but did not receive an immediate response.
