Dentist to pay more than $100,000 to chef who partially lost sense of taste after botched wisdom tooth surgery
SINGAPORE — A chef who lost part of his tastebuds after a botched wisdom tooth extraction in 2013 was awarded $75,000 for loss of earning capacity after he took the dentist who conducted the surgery to court.
But Pawel Gajewski, an Australian national, failed in his bid to sue for A$144,000 ($134944.72) in loss of future earnings (LFE), according to a District Court judgement released on Tuesday (3 September).
Gajewski, 32, is no longer a chef and is now a consultant for clients in Australia who want to open restaurants.
The dentist who performed the procedure, Dr Lee Tong Lynn, also agreed to pay Gajewski $30,000 for pain and suffering and $2,066.60 in other expenses. In total, she has to pay Gajewski $107,066.60.
Lee was employed by Fusion Dental, Nexus at One North at the time of the incident.
While Lee did not contest liability, the case was heard over two tranches earlier this year to determine the cost of damages with respect to Gajewski’s loss of future earnings and loss of earning capacity.
Plaintiff a professional chef since 19-years-old
Gajewski, 32, worked as a professional chef since he was 19 years old in various Michelin-starred restaurants around the world, such as Noma in Copenhagen, Guy Savoy and Le Atelier in Paris.
During his wisdom tooth extraction, Gajewski was earning a monthly income of $4,350 as the head chef of Tippling Club, a fine dining restaurant in Singapore.
Gajewski underwent a wisdom tooth extraction surgery performed by Lee on 23 April 2013.
However, the procedure became complicated when Gajewski’s tooth could not be extracted. Lee persisted in trying to extract the tooth for about three hours.
As a result of the procedure, Gajewski sustained a serious injury to the right lingual nerve. Due to his injury, he is unable to taste or discern texture, or temperature in the right side of his tongue. His chances of recovery have been assessed to be “non-existent or at best poor”, according to the judgement.
Gajewski continued to work as head chef in Tippling Club after the surgery. In January 2014, his salary jumped to $6,200. He resigned from the position in December 2015 and returned to Melbourne where he worked with a pasta bar from February to November 2016.
He then worked with a catering company from early 2017 to February 2018. After leaving the catering company, Gajewski opened a consultancy business in Australia under the name of Ruminate Concepts, which he currently operates.
While both parties agreed to a sum of $30,000 for pain and suffering and $2,066 for medical and transportation expenses, Gajewski submitted for A$144,000 for the loss of future earnings and S$75,000 for the loss of earning capacity.
Lee, however, contested that no award should be made for both aspects. Her counsel said that there was no medical evidence to show that Gajewski suffered from a complete loss of taste and that his main skills in restaurant management were still intact.
Blamed for drop in Tippling Club’s rankings due to disability: Gajewski
According to Gajewski, he was blamed for the drop in Tippling Club’s rankings due to his poor performance caused by his loss of tastebuds. He stated that he left the fine dining restaurant to avoid being fired.
If not for his injury, he could have continued his employment at the restaurant or move on to other fine dining restaurants, said the former chef.
Justifying his A$144,000 claim, Gajewski said that his current business did not provide income security and also provided him with “considerably less salary” than his earnings at Tippling Club.
Contesting Gajewski’s point, Lee argued that the former chef failed to prove loss of income because he did not show his earnings in the past three years as a head chef in Melbourne or Australia. He also did not provide his earnings as a consultant.
Insufficient evidence to assess future loss of earnings: Deputy Registrar
Deputy Registrar Hairul Hakkim, who presided over the case, noted that while Gajewski has produced several receipts and invoices of his post-Tipping Club jobs, his income levels fluctuated greatly.
The registrar added that as he did not have the full financial history of Gajewski’s consultancy, except for two payment invoices, the profits of the consultancy could not be determined.
“More fundamentally, a serious deficiency in (Gajewski’s) claim for LFE is the absence of objective evidence such as income tax statements to establish his post-accident income,” said Deputy Registrar Hairul.
While Gajewski claimed he paid less taxes than before the accident and had income tax documents to show so, these were uncorroborated.
“In the circumstances, I do not have sufficient evidence before me to properly assess the future loss of earnings that (Gajewski) would suffer in this case,” said the registrar.
Plaintiff not as competent as other chefs due to disability: Deputy Registrar
Given the injury, Gajewski’s ability to have a balanced sense of taste would be hindered, affecting his technical culinary skills, ruled the registrar.
“While the medical evidence may not be conclusive to suggest that it will be impossible for him to be a chef again, I am satisfied, on a balance of probabilities, that he would clearly not be as competent in this job as another chef who has fully functioning taste buds,” said Deputy Registrar Hairul.
The registrar noted that Gajewski’s former colleagues at Tippling Club confirmed Gajewski’s loss of ability after his injury. One colleague, a sous-chef, testified that Gajewski was unable to tell the difference between an extremely salted dish and an unsalted dish.
“In short, the plaintiff’s career trajectory in the traditional chef’s role has effectively been pulled from under his feet. He is unable to meaningfully continue in the career which he trained for since he was 19 years old and for which he had remarkable talent and skill,” said the registrar.
Deputy Registrar Hairul added that Gajewski’s current career path in a new business could place him at a risk of unemployment in the future.
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