Biden's clemency for doc in chemotherapy fraud scheme contrasts with longtime 'Cancer Moonshot' advocacy

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A doctor in federal prison for chemotherapy fraud was among the recent recipients of clemency from President Biden, a stark contrast given the president's longtime advocacy for cancer patients and survivors.

Biden's sweeping clemency actions last week included sentence commutations of nearly 1,.500 prisoners, including Meera Sachdeva, a Mississippi oncologist who was senteced to two decades in prison after she pleaded guilty to chemotherapy fraud. Sachdeva gave her patients only partial doses of their prescribed cancer treatment while billing them for the full amount. 

Sachdeva pleaded guilty in 2012 to the federal charges, which included defrauding health insurance providers and Medicare by submitting false claims on behalf of the patients she was treating. In addition to the prison time, she was also ordered to pay nearly $8.2 million in restitution.

U.S. prosecutors said that between 2007 and 2011, Sachdeva's patients believed that they were receiving an amount of chemotherapy equal to the amount being billed to their respective health care benefit programs, but that patients were instead receiving reduced dosages, lower than the prescribed and billed amount of chemotherapy drugs.

A U.S. district court judge in Jackson, Mississippi, said he was "appalled" by Sachdeva's treatment of her patients at a vulnerable time in their lives. 

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"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," U.S. District Judge Daniel P. Jordan III said in court. 

"The health care fraud perpetrated by these defendants was an abuse of public trust motivated by greed," U.S. attorney Gregory K. Davis said in a statement announcing the original prison sentence for Sachdeva in response to her guilty plea.

"We remain committed to protect 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 heightened scrutiny. Among those whose sentences were commuted or pardoned are Toyosi Alatishe, who abused his position as patient caretaker for individuals with severe mental deficiencies and physical disabilities by using their 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" scheme, in which children were sent to for-profit detention centers in return for millions of dollars of kickbacks from the private prisons. 

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Biden's clemency in Sachdeva's case stands out in part from his history of advocacy on behalf of cancer patients. 

In 2016, then-Vice President Biden launched the Cancer Moonshot, aimed at bringing together cancer researchers and accelerating scientific discovery in cancer research. The initiative was announced shortly after Biden's son, Beau Biden, died from 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."

"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.