TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) – A former director of an Ohio memory-loss clinic accused by dozens of patients of falsely diagnosing them with Alzheimer’s disease has been indicted on federal fraud charges.
The U.S. Justice Department said Sherry-Ann Jenkins was not trained or licensed to provide any medical care but presented herself as a doctor and billed patients for unneeded treatments.
She and her husband, Dr. Oliver Jenkins, were indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury in Toledo on charges of conspiracy along with mail, wire and health care fraud.
The indictment did not directly accuse the couple of falsely diagnosing her patients, but more than 60 people filed lawsuits beginning in 2017 that said Sherry-Ann Jenkins lied and told them they had Alzheimer’s or another form of dementia.
The patients said they spent months undergoing treatment while planning out their final years, thinking they would die soon. Some quit their jobs or took one last special trip. One killed himself; others said they considered suicide.