Richmond doctor faces 26 health care fraud charges after allegedly injecting patients with ozone gas

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- A Richmond doctor is facing 26 charges related to health care fraud after reports claim he subjected patients to unapproved ozone gas treatments and requested over $5.2 million in government reimbursements.

As first reported by the Richmond Times-Dispatch, following allegations of malpractice from patients and employees, Dr. Jawad Bhatti was charged with health care fraud, making false statements related to health care matters, receiving adulterated and misbranded devices and administering misbranded drugs.

Bhatti owned and operated Healing Hands of Virginia, a pain management clinic in Richmond's Jahnke neighborhood.

According to the indictment, over the span of several months throughout 2019, Bhatti ordered and received three ozone gas devices from German and Hong Kong-based companies that were not approved by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) for operation in the United States. The treatment range of the devices varied from hyperbolic chambers to blood transfusions.

Ozone gas, as described by federal agencies, is a "toxic gas with no known useful medical application in specific, adjunctive or preventative therapy."

Bhatti also received a warning from one of the device's manufacturers stating:

"By purchasing the [Ozone device], I understand this is not a medical device, and I will not represent it as a medical device, nor state that by using the [Ozone device] treats or cures any disease, and the [Ozone device] is not a therapy."

Despite a lack of FDA approval and a direct warning, Bhatti advertised the treatments on his website, detailing the alleged benefits of ozone therapy and stating that it could help treat cancer and AIDS as well as improve a variety of bodily functions.

In addition to ozone devices, it has been alleged that Bhatti injected ozone directly into his patients, employees, friends and family members from 2020 to 2023. Certain injections would be ozone by itself, while others would allegedly be a mix of ozone and lidocaine, a short-term and FDA-approved anesthetic.

Several patients would report experiencing "extreme pain" at the injection sites, with some saying that it was "the worst pain they had ever experienced," the indictment reads. They also described symptoms ranging from seizures and vomiting to migraines and temporary loss of vision.

The indictment said that while a search warrant was issued by law enforcement in 2020, resulting in Bhatti allegedly halting ozone injections for patients, he was allegedly still using ozone devices on himself as well as friends and family members until 2023.

As part of the health care fraud charges, Bhatti has been accused of submitting false claims to Medicaid and Medicare about the ozone treatments, which included billing them as nerve block injections or requesting that employees accept cash from patients instead of billing insurance companies.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia recently put out a release detailing Bhatti's charges as part of a national health care fraud takedown program headed by the Department of Justice. According to the release, Bhatti submitted fraudulent claims to Medicare and Medicaid that amounted to over $5.2 million.