Physicians are healers; they were not meant to be hunted. Yet in modern America, the very system that once revered physicians has turned against them, weaponizing regulations and laws into weapons and transforming healers into criminals. The Controlled Substances Act, health care fraud statutes, and a labyrinth of federal regulations have ensnared countless physicians in a trap of legal peril, branding them as fraudsters when their only crime was dedication to their patients.

For centuries, physicians have stood as pillars of trust, ethics, and sacrifice. Among the signers of the Declaration of Independence were four physicians (Josiah Bartlett, Lyman Hall, Benjamin Rush, and Matthew Thornton). This underscores the foundational role of medicine in American democracy. But today, white coats are being exchanged for prison uniforms, as prosecutors pursue doctors with a zeal more fitting of criminal kingpins than health care providers.

In 2018, Thomas Sachy, MD, a neuropsychiatrist from Georgia, was indicted for allegedly operating a “pill mill” and causing the deaths of two patients—charges carrying mandatory minimum sentences of 20 years each. Despite his commitment to patient care, he was arrested alongside his family members and endured nearly three years of incarceration before his trial. In May 2023, a federal judge dismissed the most severe charges against him, highlighting significant flaws in the prosecution’s case.

Dr. Sachy’s ordeal underscores the peril physicians face when legal systems conflate medical judgment with criminal activity. His case serves as a stark reminder of the urgent need for judicial reform to protect health care providers from unwarranted legal actions that not only devastate their lives but also deprive patients of essential medical care.

In 2021, Dr. Loey Kousa, a Kentucky primary care physician, was also acquitted of all charges after facing “pill mill” allegations. His legal nightmare included aggressive federal tactics that sought to portray compassionate pain management as criminal drug dealing. The jury saw through it. They found no intent to commit fraud, no conspiracy, no crime. Dr. Kousa’s case reveals a wider pattern: the conflation of aggressive medicine with criminal intent. When prosecutors substitute clinical discretion with courtroom assumptions, it is not just the physician who suffers; patients are left without care.

In my case, I was acquitted by a federal jury in May 2024 after facing serious health care fraud charges. The case, built on flimsy evidence and flawed audits, was emblematic of how prosecutorial overreach has become normalized in the name of compliance. Despite the acquittal, the damage to reputation and livelihood was severe. Yet I am fighting back in a powerful Hyde Motion (a federal law that grants those frivolously prosecuted the right to sue the government for attorney fees and expenses).

Court records detail a disturbing pattern of conduct by federal prosecutors after I was called “schizophrenic” by a U.S. attorney in open court and smeared in a press release by U.S. Attorney Jacqueline Romero as one of the “dirty doctors who poisoned our communities.” The irony? I was found not guilty on all charges. This kind of prosecutorial zealotry reflects a fundamental erosion of the presumption of innocence.

Now unfolding in Philadelphia is the case of our colleague Dr. Neil Anand, a pain management specialist accused under federal drug and fraud laws. Dr. Anand was targeted using data manipulation and inconsistent standards within Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMPs). He is a “9/11 hero” who was at Ground Zero providing health care to first responders, but now caught in the crosshairs of a system that punishes statistical outliers, not actual wrongdoing. The Anand case follows a familiar playbook: broad accusations, damning press releases, and legal proceedings that presume guilt based on incomplete or misleading data. If history is any guide, we may be watching yet another unjust prosecution unfold.

The language used by federal authorities is often inflammatory and prejudicial. U.S. Attorney Jacqueline Romero’s press release referencing “dirty doctors” was issued just days before she was fired. Though she did not name any doctors, the timing and context made the insinuation clear. Such rhetoric is not just inappropriate; it is dangerous. Physicians are not beyond accountability, but they deserve fair treatment, not vilification. When prosecutors act as judge, jury, and media spin masters, they corrode public trust and chill the practice of medicine.

The statistics are sobering. According to Pew Research, only 0.4 percent of federal defendants are found not guilty. The odds are stacked against any physician who finds themselves in the government’s crosshairs. Most plea out, not because they are guilty, but because the risk of fighting back is too great. The Hyde Amendment, intended to provide compensation for unjust prosecutions, has been used successfully only a handful of times. Dr. Rifai is now fighting for such relief, highlighting how rarely physicians find justice even after vindication. Worse still, racial and ethnic bias cannot be ignored, as physicians are denied the standard presumption of innocence in DOJ press releases.

Every unjust prosecution leaves a trail of wreckage: ruined reputations, shuttered practices, and patients left stranded. These are not victimless bureaucratic missteps; they are systemic failures with human costs. When pain physicians are prosecuted for high prescribing patterns, we forget that those numbers often reflect complex patient populations with real needs. When psychiatrists are accused of billing fraud, we ignore the administrative chaos and opaque rules that govern health care documentation.

Justice is not served by targeting physicians who are doing their best in a broken system. We need reform, not retribution. That includes:

• Clearer guidelines for health care billing and prescribing.
• Accountability for federal prosecutors who misuse their power.
• Reform of DEA administrative processes to ensure due process.
• Equal application of the presumption of innocence, regardless of race, religion, or specialty.

Physicians must not be made scapegoats for systemic dysfunction. It is time to end the criminalization of care. The war on health care fraud has too often become a war on healers. Cases like those of Drs. Sachy, Kousa, and Anand illustrate how prosecutorial overreach undermines justice, harms patients, and drives good physicians out of practice. We must return to a system where physicians are respected, due process is honored, and justice is blind. Because when we criminalize compassion, we do not just destroy careers—we destroy care itself.

Muhamad Aly Rifai is a practicing internist and psychiatrist in the Greater Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania. He is the CEO, chief psychiatrist and internist of Blue Mountain Psychiatry. He holds the Lehigh Valley Endowed Chair of Addiction Medicine. Dr. Rifai is board-certified in internal medicine, psychiatry, addiction medicine, and psychosomatic medicine. He is a fellow of the American College of Physicians, the Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine, and the American Psychiatric Association. He is the former president of the Lehigh Valley Psychiatric Society.

He can be reached on LinkedIn, Facebook, X @muhamadalyrifai, YouTube, and his website. You can also read his Wikipedia entry and publications.