Dentist Charged in Boy’s Death Pleads Not Guilty

A dentist who was working on a 4-year-old Santa Ana boy when the child stopped breathing pleaded not guilty Friday to a charge of involuntary manslaughter with gross negligence.

Dr. Gabriella Thanh-Ngoc Pham, 35, was arrested in August in connection with the Aug. 4, 1997, death of Javier Villa.

The boy, while being treated at the Megdal Dental Care Clinic in Santa Ana, had been given an oral sedative called chloral hydrate, which represses breathing.

Defense attorney Jennifer Keller said the key issues will center on the sedative.

“If anyone is responsible for this, it should be the person who administered the anesthesia to the child, and she was not that person,” Keller said. “But there are a lot of questions in this case and I think they’ll be answered in the trial.

“I can tell you right now she’s not responsible,” Keller said. “Not legally responsible, she’s not morally responsible, she’s not ethically responsible for this child’s death and there’s nobody in the world who feels worse about it than she does because she’s a good person.”