Doc Keeps License After Pleading Not Guilty to Self-Dealing

Thursday, July 19, 2018 | 2

A Riverside judge denied a request by the California Medical Board to suspend the medical license of a doctor who pleaded not guilty to charges that he referred workers’ compensation patients to have services provided by other companies he owned, according to a report by the Press-Enterprise.

The Riverside County District Attorney’s Office charged Dr. Sanjoy Banerjee, 42, with seven felonies, including two counts of fraud and five counts of perjury.

Banerjee is a workers’ compensation pain management doctor with offices in Wildomar and Corona, prosecutors said. Between November 2014 and December 2016 he allegedly billed more than $180,000 for urine toxicology testing and epidural injections provided to patients he referred to himself.

He pleaded not guilty during a a July 9 arraignment hearing, according to the Press-Enterprise.

Meanwhile, the California Medical Board sought to suspend Banerjee’s license while the case is pending. The board said in its petition that Banerjee allegedly engaged in unprofessional and dangerous conduct that demonstrates an “inability or unwillingness to follow the law,” the Press-Enterprise reports.

A judge denied the motion to suspend Banerjee’s license without prejudice, which allows the board to re-file at a later date.