What happened to Nevaeh Hall? Dentist receives probation after alleged botched surgery left 4-year-old brain damaged

4-year-old Nevaeh Hall was left with irreversible brain damage after a former dentist named Dr. Bethaniel Jefferson reportedly performed surgery on her. The incident took place in January 2016 and in November of the same year, the Texas Dental Board revoked Jefferson's medical license. On Wednesday, the dentist was sentenced to five years of probation.

Nevaeh Hall, who is now 10 years old, is reportedly conscious but needs medical attention throughout the day. She also cannot perform regular activities including eating and speaking, on her own.

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Nevaeh Hall reportedly had seizures during the 2016 botched surgery

Former dentist, Dr. Bethaniel Jefferson faces five years of probation after she was convicted of injury to a child by omission in Nevaeh Hall's case, as per the New York Post. Jefferson was working at Diamond Dental in Houston when the incident took place in January 2016. According to the victim's mother, Courissa Clark, it was her third visit to the clinic.

Courissa said that she had taken her then 4-year-old daughter to the clinic to get some of her teeth capped or to even get some of them removed due to cavities. Clark and her husband were asked to stay in the waiting room while Nevaeh Hall was taken inside. The family's world turned upside down after the surgery and her mom told Fox 26 at the time that Nevaeh cried just an hour after the procedure began.

The little girl reportedly had seizures, however, the family was asked to not worry. Jefferson, in fact, asked Courissa Clark to go back to the waiting room and confirmed that her daughter was doing alright. Nevaeh's mother stated at the time that the family was not informed that she had a seizure. Instead, they were told that the 4-year-old was "shaking."

After several hours, an ambulance was called but it was too late. Due to extreme oxygen shortage, the youngster suffered unrepairable brain damage.

Jim Moriarty, the family attorney, then said:

"In essence what happened is this child was chemically and physically suffocated. This child suffered massive brain damage during that time period and that didn't have to happen."

An independent dentist then reviewed the records and confirmed that Hall was given multiple sedatives.

"Sedated in the office for over seven hours, given five sedatives for a routine dental procedure that should have been done and over by mid morning. Her body tried to compensate for her inability to breathe by increasing her heart rate to as high as 195 beats per minute. [Her blood pressure rose to] a dangerous 168/77," the dentist's report said as per CBS News.

Reports state that a papoose, a commonly used restraint device was used to restrict the child's movement during the dental procedure. Moriarty further said that Nevaeh Hall was "essentially tortured."

Hall's oxygen saturation had reportedly decreased to 49 percent and the review added:

"Severe hypoxia is often classified as any saturation lower than 86 percent. And is known to cause brain damage."

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Jefferson was sentenced to five years of probation

On Wednesday, September 13, Dr. Jefferson was found guilty and was sentenced to probation. Prosecutors, however, were not satisfied with the sentencing and sought a sentence of 20 years behind bars.

While the jury initially sentenced Jefferson to 10 years, the judge changed it to five years of probation. Assistant District Attorney Gilbert Sawtelle said that he believes justice wasn't served in the Nevaeh Hall case.

"She failed for five hours... She was more worried about herself than that little girl’s life," Sawtelle said.

Clara Clark, the now 10-year-old Nevaeh's grandmother expressed her dissatisfaction and unhappiness regarding the verdict and also stated that it was unfair. She told FOX 26 that the dentist should have been imprisoned. Clara further stated that while Jefferson can go on with her normal life after her sentence ends, Hall can never do things a girl her age can.

Last year, in a civil lawsuit, Nevaeh Hall's family was awarded a settlement of $95.5 million. However, it was stated that Jefferson did not have the money to pay the victim's family.

Jefferson's attorney argued that sending her to prison would be an extreme punishment.