A doctor imprisoned for chemotherapy fraud was among the recipients of clemency in President Biden’s recent actions, a surprising decision given Biden’s longstanding advocacy for cancer patients and survivors.
Biden’s clemency actions last week included commuting the sentences of nearly 1,500 prisoners, including Meera Sachdeva, a Mississippi oncologist sentenced to 20 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to chemotherapy fraud. Sachdeva admitted to giving her patients partial doses of prescribed cancer treatment while billing them for the full amount.
Sachdeva pleaded guilty in 2012 to federal charges, including defrauding health insurance providers and Medicare by submitting false claims for her patients’ treatments. In addition to her prison sentence, she was ordered to pay nearly $8.2 million in restitution.
Prosecutors alleged that between 2007 and 2011, Sachdeva’s patients believed they were receiving full doses of chemotherapy, but instead were given reduced amounts while being billed for the full prescribed dosages.
U.S. District Judge Daniel P. Jordan III, who sentenced Sachdeva, condemned her actions. “It’s a very small thing to send this woman to jail for the next 20 years when you compare it to the damage she has done,” he said during sentencing.
U.S. Attorney Gregory K. Davis called Sachdeva’s scheme an “abuse of public trust” fueled by greed, stating at the time, “We remain committed to protect the integrity of our health care system and will continue to strictly enforce our federal health care laws.”
The clemency granted to Sachdeva comes amid scrutiny of other names on Biden’s clemency list. Among those pardoned or granted sentence commutations are Toyosi Alatishe, who misused his position as a caretaker for individuals with severe mental and physical disabilities to file fraudulent tax returns using their personal information, and Michael Conahan, a former Pennsylvania judge convicted in the “Kids-for-Cash” scandal, in which children were sent to for-profit detention centers in exchange for kickbacks.
Biden’s decision to commute Sachdeva’s sentence is notable given his long history of supporting cancer patients. In 2016, then-Vice President Biden launched the Cancer Moonshot initiative to accelerate cancer research and advance treatment discoveries. The effort was deeply personal, following the death of his son, Beau Biden, from brain cancer.
In a statement last week announcing the clemency actions, Biden defended his decisions by saying the United States “was built on the promise of possibility and second chances.”
“As president, I have the great privilege of extending mercy to people who have demonstrated remorse and rehabilitation, restoring opportunity for Americans to participate in daily life and contribute to their communities, and taking steps to remove sentencing disparities for nonviolent offenders, especially those convicted of drug offenses,” Biden said.
