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A doctor in federal prison for chemotherapy fraud was among the recent recipients of President Biden’s clemency, a stark contrast given the president’s longstanding advocacy for cancer patients and survivors.
Biden’s radical acts of mercy Last week it included sentence commutations for nearly 1,500 prisoners, including Meera Sachdeva, a Mississippi oncologist who was sentenced to two decades in prison after she pleaded guilty to chemotherapy fraud. Sachdeva gave his patients only partial doses of the prescribed cancer treatment while billing them for the full amount.
Sachdeva pleaded guilty in 2012 to federal positionswhich included defrauding health insurance providers and Medicare by submitting false claims on behalf of patients he was treating. In addition to the prison time, he was also ordered to pay nearly $8.2 million in restitution.
U.S. prosecutors said that between 2007 and 2011, Sachdeva’s patients believed they were receiving an amount of chemotherapy equal to the amount billed to their respective health care benefit programs, but that the patients received reduced doses, lower than the amount prescribed and billed. chemotherapy drugs.
A United States District Court Judge in Jackson, Mississippi, said he was “horrified” by Sachdeva’s treatment of his patients at a vulnerable time in their lives.
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Chart comparing presidential pardons granted in first terms. (Tom McLaughlin/Fox News Digital)
“It’s a very small thing to send this woman to prison for the next 20 years when you compare it to the damage she’s done,” U.S. District Judge Daniel P. Jordan III told the court.
“The health care fraud perpetrated by these defendants was a greed-driven abuse of the public trust,” U.S. Attorney Gregory K. Davis said in an advertising release the original prison sentence for Sachdeva in response to his guilty plea.
“We remain committed to protecting the integrity of our health care system and will continue to strictly enforce our federal health care laws.”
The news comes as certain names on Biden’s clemency list have come under increased scrutiny. Among those commuted or pardoned are Toyosi Alatishe, who abused his position as a caregiver for patients with severe mental impairments and physical disabilities by using his personal information to file fraudulent tax returns, and former Pennsylvania judge Michael Conahan, who was convicted in 2011 for his role in a “Kids-for-Cash” program.in which children were sent to for-profit detention centers in exchange for millions of dollars in bribes from private prisons.
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Biden’s leniency in Sachdeva’s case highlights in part his record of advocating on behalf of cancer patients. (Getty Images)
Biden’s leniency in Sachdeva’s case highlights in part his record of advocating on behalf of cancer patients.
In 2016, then-Vice President Biden launched Cancer Moonshot, with the goal of bringing cancer researchers together and accelerating scientific discovery in cancer research. The initiative was announced shortly after Biden’s son, Beau Biden, died of a rare form of brain cancer.
In a statement last week announcing the new clemency actions, Biden said America “was built on the promise of possibility and second chances.”
Vice President Kamala Harris and President Biden attend a meeting of the Task Force on Access to Reproductive Health in the State Dining Room at the White House, Oct. 4, 2022. (Drew Anger/Getty Images)
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“As president, it is my great privilege to extend clemency to people who have shown remorse and rehabilitation, restoring the opportunity for Americans to participate in daily life and contribute to their communities, and to take steps to eliminate sentencing disparities for non-violent offenders, particularly those. convicted of drug crimes” Biden said.
