A federal district judge on Wednesday handed down a 20-year sentence to Sanjeev Kumar, who operated a women’s health clinic in Memphis, Tennessee, according to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).
U.S. District Judge Sheryl H. Lipman sentenced Kumar (pictured above) to 20 years in prison, plus two years of supervised release, about six months after the Memphis jury found him guilty of 18 counts of adulteration of medical devices, 16 counts of misbranding medical devices, and six counts of healthcare fraud.
In January, a jury found him guilty of 40 crimes related to the use of dirty medical devices during more than 15,000 invasive gynecological procedures completed from September 2019 through June 2024.
U.S. Attorney Michael Dunavant said in a statement that the Mayo Clinic-trained gynecologic oncologist “was motivated by greed, disregarded clear medical risks, and caused significant physical and psychological harm to his victim-patients,” and “used his medical license to target a vulnerable population of women seeking treatment in extremely personal and intimate procedures.”
The press release states that the doctor improperly reused equipment, either skipping necessary cleaning or recycling devices designed for single use, to perform 15,000 hysteroscopies with biopsy on patients. The procedures were billed to Medicaid and Medicare.
The hysteroscopy can be used to detect endometrial cancer, as well as other causes of unexplained vaginal bleeding. According to the DOJ, it “is an in-office procedure where a hysteroscope is inserted into the vagina, pushed through the cervix, and into the uterus. A grasper or pipelle is then inserted through the hysteroscope to take a sample of the endometrial lining of the uterus.”
Following the conviction, Dunavant stated, “No punishment is enough to achieve justice in this horrific case, but we hope that this 20-year sentence will send a strong message of deterrence while holding Kumar accountable for his crimes.”
Kumar appears to have practiced medicine in Memphis since 2013, as Memphis Medical News reported in 2018, adding that Kumar relocated to Tennessee following a fellowship at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.
Before his prestigious fellowship at the Mayo Clinic, the doctor told the publication that he received his medical training in India.
“I went to medical school in India and got my training in robotic and laparoscopic surgery at the Mayo Clinic,” Kumar told the outlet. “That instilled the belief in me that I could really do these challenging cases, especially since there’s such a need for them.”
He told Memphis Medical News, “My fascination with surgery began when I was a kid growing up on a farm in India driving tractors. I wanted to do something manual. I thought I would be good at something where I could work with my hands.”
A physician listing website states that Kumar received his medical degree from the Government Medical College & Hospital, Chandigarh, a government medical school affiliated with Panjab University. It was ranked last year as the 34th medical school in India. It launched in 1991 with just 50 students, and did not increase its annual intake to 100 until 2013.
According to a press release distributed in 2024, Kumar completed his first Mayo Clinic internship in Rochester, Minnesota in 2006. He completed a residency at Wayne State University in 2010 before returning to Minnesota for a second fellowship at the Mayo Clinic, which concluded in 2013.
His conviction and 20-year sentence came after a federal magistrate judge notably ruled in April 2025 that Kumar would be allowed to resume his medical practice as the case unfolded.
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Tom Pappert is a 2025 recipient of the Dao Prize and the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star. He also reports for the Star News Network. Follow Tom on X. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Sanjeev Kumar” by ZocDoc.
