Posted on 12/17/2003 7:18:49 AM PST by WASH
There is new information after KING 5 exposed a phony doctor who was injecting people without a license. The Bellevue Police Department is now launching an investigation as more complaints surface. When the Miller family's pediatrician ran out of the flu vaccine, 12-year-old Ashleigh was referred to Shahid Sheikh who had called the clinic telling them he was a doctor and he had plenty of the vaccine. So Ashleigh went to the clinic and got her shot: “It seemed perfectly normal to me. It was in a conference room though, it wasn't a doctor's office,” said Ashleigh. But it turned out Sheikh is no doctor. He is not even licensed to possess the flu vaccine.
Still, he has been injecting hundreds of unsuspecting people with a mysterious substance. Bellevue Police now joined the state Department of Health in launching an investigation: “Most of the allegations that we’re looking into right now are fraud issues in terms of misrepresentation,” said Michael Chiu, Bellevue Police Dept. KING 5 Investigators have learned Shahid Sheikh was already under federal investigation before he started giving flu shots in Western Washington.
Sheikh operated a series of medical and computer training academies in Washington, Nevada and California. Federal investigators have been probing student loan irregularities, where grant and loan checks were cashed by the schools without the students’ authorization. The complaints date from 1997 to this year. Most of the people complained they paid money to become certified medical assistants, but Sheikh was not qualified to certify them: Many students claimed they weren’t learning anything at Sheikh’s medical academies and at least 14 of them filed complaints with the Attorney General’s Office. Former student Ken Huff won a $17,000 lawsuit judgment against one of Sheikh’s schools, but said he has not seen a penny.
KING 5 also learned that Sheikh had another source of income besides the clinic where he charged $45 – twice the going rate for a flu shot. A source said he also receives state welfare benefits in food stamps and medical coverage. Shahid Sheikh is also under investigation by the state Medical Board, and so is West Seattle Dr. Clarence Niles whose license was used to order Sheikh's supply of vaccine. Tuesday, the Snoqualmie Tribal Clinic – one place where Niles practices – placed the doctor on administrative leave.
Lingering questions add to the worry at the Miller home: “Was it diluted vaccine? Was it saline? Does she have any immunity or did he put something dangerous in her? Those are the questions that are worrying me. I want to know what it was that he gave her,” said Lori Miller, Ashleigh’s mother. Health officials said at this point there is no reason to believe there was anything harmful in the injections, but until Sheikh starts cooperating with investigators, there is no way to know. Tuesday, Sheikh's Bellevue clinic was closed and no one returned phone calls.
Now, tell me again WHY profiling is wrong. This guy injected a bunch of people with a mysterious substance.
"Until recently, Sheikh's company, Medsources, has been delivering flu shots to corporations, with KING-TV among his clients this year.
Sheikh said he has been using the license of a West Seattle doctor – Clarence Niles – to order the vaccine. Monday, Niles said he does business with one of Sheikh’s relatives who he thought had the proper licenses.
Sheikh said he has years of training and experience in the medical profession, but that’s not comforting to some of his patients."
No wonder why KING-TV is reporting on this. It does seem like no one else is.
When she got her flu shot back in October, Ali Schriner thought she'd be immune from the bug. Not so - Ali's fever spiked at 103.6 this week. Her mother says she thought there was something suspicious about the man that administered the shot. "He was very pleasant, very nice, put your fears at ease, but I still was a little bit uneasy for some reason," said Laura Lee-Domingue. Shahid Sheikh gave the injection to Ali and about 800 other people in western Washington, even though he is not licensed to administer the shots. He isn't even allowed to possess the vaccine. KING 5 News unmasked the bogus doctor, leading to state and local investigations.
Sheikh has retained prominent Seattle defense attorney Allan Ressler, who plans to turn the remaining vaccine will over to state health officials. "My recommendation is that he not continue to administer the vaccine … and somebody can test the vaccine so that the public is assured nothing is amiss," said Ressler. Shahid Sheikh has been administering the injections for at least three months, charging about double the normal rate and drumming up business by cold calling everyone from pediatric offices to local businesses.
Sheikh's resume, obtained by KING 5 News, is impressive if only for its bold lies. Sheikh claims to have a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Washington, but his BS is just that. The Pakistani immigrant actually studied zoology, and never graduated. It all has those who fell for Sheikh's deception amazed. "There was apparently no process for validating his credentials. Anyone could have come in with that attire and that demeanor and injected whatever into us," said Charles Domingue, Ali's stepfather.
Bellevue police continue investigating the matter. They have called in the King County Prosecutor's Office for assistance and the DEA is now looking into the matter as well. State health investigators won't say exactly how it happened, but now they have their hands on two vials that they believe Shahid Sheihk was using. Was it real flu vaccine or something else? It isn't that easy to determine. "We do testing related to people and their health, and samples of their blood to determine what illness they have. I'm not of us ever getting a request to test a vaccine to see if it's legitimate," said Tim Church with the Department of Health. It may be that the drug manufacturer is the only one that can test if the vaccine was legitimate. We're told the labels on the vials do look authentic. Investigators also plan to check the lot numbers to figure out exactly how Sheihk ended up with the vials.
Police say even if Sheihk was giving shots without a license, that's a licensing issue, not necessarily a crime. So they don't have grounds to get a search warrant for Sheihk's clinic. "We can only enforce laws, and right now, if a law has been broken, we're not aware of that," said Michael Chiu, Bellevue Police Dept. And that's what makes this case so unusual. Sheihk is still free. Police aren't arresting him because the health department is still building its case.
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