As reported by the Associated Press for several media sites, including KTVU.com, Dr. M.S., currently held without bond for diluting drugs and over billing, is also facing a lawsuit alleging that a patient died after contracting HIV from a dirty needle in her clinic.
Dr. M.S. is the founder of the Rose Cancer Center in Summit, south Mississippi. She is currently facing federal charges stemming from her alleged use of old syringes, water-down chemotherapy drugs and billing both Medicaid and Medicare for more chemotherapy than her clinic patients reportedly had.
The lawsuit is possibly the first public allegation for a person that contracted HIV at the clinic.
Both federal and state authorities claim that old needles were using on multiple patients treated at the Rose Cancer Center. The center has since been shuttered, on July 20, as the Mississippi Health Department determined that it had "unsafe infection control practices."
The state health department tested hundreds of the clinic's patients for HIV and other diseases. The department had been alerted as 11 clinic patients had entered hospitals with the same bacterial infection.
Liz Sharlot, the Health Department spokeswoman, said that they had not found a patient with HIV or hepatitis, but the testing for contracted viral diseases is not yet completed.
J.R.P. Sr., the man named in the suit that died prior to the clinic's shutdown, had been treated for lung and brain cancer at the clinic. The suit alleges that instead he was given watered-down drugs. He was also treated with an old needle that transmitted the HIV virus, which weakened his immune system.
J.R.P. Sr. died at age 61 on July 3.
The suit was filed on behalf of J.R.P. Sr.'s son and seeks $500,000 in actual damages and punitive damages yet to be specified. The suit was filed by Jackson-based attorneys, John Giddens and Philip Thomas.
Giddens said, "This is a disturbing case of a trusted physician sacrificing her patients' lives in order to enrich herself. We expect a jury to hold Dr. (M.S.) and Rose Cancer liable and assess substantial damages against them. We believe that this case is particularly appropriate for an award of punitive damages due to the unconscionable fraud committed by Dr. (M.S.). Although Mississippi law currently limits the amount of punitive damages that may be awarded, the limits do not apply when the defendant has been convicted of a felony for the conduct at issue in the lawsuit. We expect Dr. (M.S.) to be convicted before the trial of Mr. (J.R.P. Sr.'s) case."
Dr. M.S. has been held without bail on the criminal charges as she is considered a flight risk - and has considerable assets in India, her native country.
The clinic was established in 2005. Over the years, per prosecutors, Dr. M.S. administered less chemotherapy or cheaper drugs than what her patient's insurance companies were billed for. Syringes, for example, were billed for each patient but routinely reused on multiple patients.
Contact a medical malpractice attorney if you have lost a loved one due to a physician's negligence, or you yourself have received substandard care.