Ky. abortion doctor's license suspended

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — The state medical board suspended the license of a gynecologist who performed abortions in Kentucky after an investigator said she found unsanitary conditions and faulty equipment.

Hamid Sheikh said Thursday he has retired and will not seek to have his license restored, but he said his office was sanitary.

Sheikh is accused of billing Medicaid since 2004 for abortions that he falsely reported as ultrasounds and double-billing for the procedures, accepting payments from his patients as well. In November, Sheikh was indicted on four counts of defrauding

Medicaid, the government health insurance program for the poor.

Sheikh, who has performed abortions since 1975, has denied the charges. He said they were motivated by anti-abortion politics.

“I have no reason to be punished in this way, except that I do abortions,” Sheikh said.
According to documents that accompanied the medical board’s June 5 order, a Medicaid investigator found “medical care standards dramatically out of compliance” in Sheikh’s office.

A Medicaid fraud agent told the board that seven patients reported “highly negative experiences, commonly involving a lack of medication and being told by the licensee not to scream during the procedure.”

One patient told investigators that “the pain was unbearable” and that after the procedure she “was given a stained sheet to cover herself with.”

Sheikh said the office is completely sanitary and that none of his patients have suffered pain.

The state Board of Medical Licensure scheduled a hearing for November in Sheikh’s case.