Sapan Desai, the fraudster medical doctor that discredited Hydroxychloroquine with fake data is suspended in Ohio.
Residents in Ohio can breath a little easier. The State Medical Board of Ohio has sent a strongly worded letter to one of the greatest medical frauds in history.
And no, we’re not talking about Dr. Tenpenny.
Dr. Sapan Desai was founder of a medical data company called ‘Surgisphere’ that was used to discredit the benefits of Hydroxychloroquine, a wonder drug used to combat malarial fevers and other diseases for decades. Dr. Desai claimed his data purported to show Hydroxychloroquine was deadly. CNN and other news outlets, desperate to hand President Donald J. Trump a defeat and paint him as a liar, breathlessly covered the story. Medical journals like ‘The Lancet’ and ‘New England Journal of Medicine’ trumpeted the study, which resulted in at least 82 clinical trials being cancelled by the WHO to deduce the benefits of the medication that even Dr. Anthony Fauci claimed was beneficial for the treatment of SARS back in the 2000’s.
The results of the study were so unusual that a letter was signed by numerous doctors demanding the study reveal sources and verify the data within it. When scrutinized, Desai refused to provide his data and ultimately vanished. The Lancet retracted the paper and the authors completely escaped any serious ramifications for their fraud…until now.
A recently discovered document on the Ohio Medical board website shows that Desai has evaded subpoenas to speak to the board for years since he was exposed as a fraud. By refusing to testify, assumably under oath, Dr. Desai has avoided going on the record about his fraud and how it occurred. Because he’s on the run, the board has been forced to make a decision about granting Desai license to practice medicine in Ohio ever again. What’s interesting is that despite years of evasion, the board has given Desai significant latitude.
The full text of the letter to Desai dated 5/11/2023 is below.
Dear Doctor Desai:
In accordance with Chapter 119., Ohio Revised Code, you are hereby notified that the State Medical Board of Ohio [Board] intends to determine whether or not to limit, revoke, permanently revoke or suspend your license or certificate, or refuse to grant or register or issue the license or certificate for which you have a pending application in accordance with Section 9.79 of the Ohio Revised Code, or refuse to renew or reinstate your license or certificate to practice medicine and surgery, or to reprimand you or place you on probation for one or more of the following reasons:
(1) Beginning on or about December 7, 2020, and continuing for a period of a few days, a Board investigator contacted you to arrange a time to interview you. You failed to respond to the investigator’s contacts. On or about December 11, 2020, the Board received correspondence from an attorney, advising that he represented you. Despite
continued attempts by the Board investigator to schedule aninterview, on or about January 7, 2021, through your attorney, you declined to meet with the Board investigator.
(2) Since in or around November 2022, the Board has attempted on several occasions to depose you.
On or about November 14, 2022, the Board sent a subpoena by certified mail,
(a) return receipt requested, to you at your address of record. The subpoena
notified you of a deposition scheduled for December 1, 2022, at 10:00 a.m. [December 2022 subpoena] Acopy of the December 2022 subpoena also was sent to your counsel of record. The December 2022 subpoena sent to your address of record was returned with a notation of a different address [new address]. In or around late November 2022, your attorney requested that the deposition be rescheduled to allow you to retain Ohio counsel. The Board agreed to continue the deposition.
(b) Board staff requested that he submit dates in order to reschedule the deposition.
In or around early December 2022, your new attorney entered an appearance. Despite contacts from Board staff, counsel failed to respond with proposed dates. On or about January 12, 2023, the Board issued a subpoena scheduling the deposition to February 28, 2023, at 10:00 a.m. [February 2023 subpoena] The February 2023 subpoena was sent by certified mail, return receipt requested, to your address of record, with a copy sent by regular mail, postage prepaid, to your new address and to your attorney. On or about January 31, 2023, the February 2023 subpoena sent by certified mail to your address of record was returned to the Board. The copies of the subpoena sent by regular mail were not returned.
(c ) On or about February 21, 2023, the Board received notice that you had retained new counsel, who wanted the February 28, 2023, deposition to be rescheduled to a later date. Initially, Board staff refused to continue the deposition; on request and submission of proposed dates, the Board agreed to reschedule the deposition to March 20, 2023, at 2:00 p.m. On or about March 8, 2023, the Board issued a subpoena scheduling the deposition to March 20, 2023, at 2:00 p.m. [March 2023 subpoena] The March 2023 subpoena was sent by certified mail to your address of record, with a copy sent by regular mail, postage prepaid, to your new address and to one of your attorneys. On or about March 15, 2023, the March 2023 subpoena sent by certified mail to your address of record was returned to the Board. The subpoenas sent by regular mail were not returned.
(d) Prior to the March 20, 2023 deposition, on your behalf, your attorney contacted the Board to request alternate resolution. Following your attorney’s assurances of an alternate resolution, the deposition scheduled for March 20, 2023, was cancelled. You then failed to engage in meaningful discussions for an alternate resolution.
(e) Subsequently, the Board scheduled the deposition for April 17, 2023, at 2:00 p.m. On or about March 21, 2023, the Board issued a subpoena scheduling the deposition to April 17, 2023, at 2:00 p.m. [April 2023 subpoena] The April 2023 subpoena was sent by certified mail to your address of record with a copy sent by regular mail, postage prepaid, to your new address and to your attorney. On or about March 31, 2023, the April 2023 subpoena sent by certified mail to your address of record was returned to the Board. The subpoenas sent by regular mail were not returned.
(f) At or around 11:30 a.m. on April 17, 2023, your attorney emailed a letter from you to the Board saying that you would not attend the deposition scheduled to take place at 2:00 p.m that s a m e day. A Board staff member convened the deposition at 2:00 p.m. on April 17, 2023, and you failed to appear.Your acts, conduct, and/or omissions as alleged in paragraphs (1) and (2)(a) through (f) above, individually and/or collectively, constitute “Failure to cooperate in an investigation conducted by the board under division (F) of this section, including failure to comply with a subpoena or order issued by the board or failure to answer truthfully a question presented by the board ni an investigative interview, an investigative office conference, at a deposition, or in written interrogatories. “as that clause is used in Section 4731.22(B)(34), Ohio Revised Code.
Furthermore, for any violations that occurred on or after September 29, 2015, the Board may impose a civil penalty in an amount that shall not exceed twenty thousand dollars, pursuant to Section 4731.225, Ohio Revised Code. The civil penalty may be in addition to any other action the Board may take under section 4731.22, Ohio Revised Code.
Pursuant to Chapter 119., Ohio Revised Code, you are hereby advised that you are entitled to a hearing in this matter. If you wish to request such hearing, the request must be made in writing and must be received in the offices of the State Medical Board within thirty days of the time of
mailing of this notice.
You are further advised that, if you timely request a hearing, you are entitled to appear at such hearing in person, or by your attorney, or by such other representative as is permitted to practice before this agency, or you may present your position, arguments, or contentions ni writing, and that at the hearing you may present evidence and examine witnesses appearing for or against you.
In the event that there is no request for such hearing received within thirty days of the time of mailing of this notice, the State Medical Board may, in your absence and upon consideration of this matter, determine whether or not to limit, revoke, permanently revoke or suspend your license or certificate, or refuse to grant or register or issue the license or certificate for which you have a pending application in accordance with Section 9.79 of the Ohio Revised Code, or refuse to renew or reinstate your license or certificate to practice medicine and surgery, or to reprimand you or place you on probation.
Please note that, whether or not you request a hearing, Section 4731.22(L), Ohio Revised
Code, provides that “[w]hen the board refuses to grant or issue a license or certificate to
practice to an applicant, revokes an individual’s license or certificate to practice, refuses to renew an individual’s license or certificate to practice, or refuses to reinstate an individual’s license or certificate to practice, the board may specify that its action is permanent. An individual subject to a permanent action taken by the board is forever thereafter ineligible to hold a license or certificate to practice and the board shall not accept an application for reinstatement of the license or certificate or for issuance of a new license or certificate.”Copies of the applicable sections are enclosed for your information.
Case number: 23-CRF-0088, State Medical Board of OHIO
Even if the Ohio Medical Board is forced to take action on Desai, it’s nice to see justice occasionally take place. No word on if Mandeep Mehra MD has been asked to testify to the board in Massachusetts.
Denying a medication by misrepresenting important information during a national emergency is fraud of the highest order and may also constitute a crime against humanity.
The real question is why did it take Ohio so long to do this?
