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Former patients of the Toledo Clinic Cognitive Center say they were misdiagnosed with Alzheimer's.
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Toledo couple faced dozens of lawsuits for medical fraud

The Blade

Toledo couple faced dozens of lawsuits for medical fraud

Editor’s note: This story was updated to include a comment from The Toledo Clinic.

A former Ottawa Hills couple recently indicted on charges related to a suspected fraudulent medical scheme had previously been sued by more than 60 complainants, including a West Toledo wife who claimed her husband killed himself after receiving a false Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis from the pair.

With Dr. Oliver Jenkins serving as medical director and wife, Sherry-Ann Jenkins, performing duties as overall director, the couple operated a medical clinic in Toledo that for years mainly treated “patients with cognitive disorders, particularly those suspected of suffering from dementia and Alzheimer’s disease,” according to an indictment from the United States Attorney’s Office released Wednesday.

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The couple “conceived” what became known as The Toledo Clinic Cognitive Center sometime around November, 2013, but didn't officially open the cognitive center until November, 2014, at which point it was a formal part of The Toledo Clinic. 

Former patients of the Toledo Clinic Cognitive Center say they were misdiagnosed with Alzheimer’s.
The Blade
Toledo couple indicted on fraudulent medical scheme charges

During that time, Dr. Jenkins and Ms. Jenkins diagnosed and treated patients for cognitive disorders such as dementia and Alzheimer's disease despite Ms. Jenkins having “no clinical education, training, or certification,” and “no medical background, affiliation, or licenses to provide medical care of any type,” according to the indictment. Ms. Jenkins is also accused of billing patients for services she was not eligible to bill, were unnecessary, or were never performed, according to the U.S Justice Department. 

Dr. Jenkins, who is a licensed doctor specializing as an ear, nose, and throat physician, also signed off on the tests being performed by Ms. Jenkins and was even listed as the referring physician despite Ms. Jenkins treating the patients.

“Defendants Sherry-Ann Jenkins and Oliver H. Jenkins, knowingly devised and intended to devise a scheme and artifice to defraud and to obtain money and property of patients by means of false and fraudulent pretenses, representations, and promises,” the indictment said. 

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Attempts to reach Dr. Jenkins and Ms. Jenkins were unsuccessful Thursday.

Among many former patients and family members who claimed to have been hurt by the couple’s actions, Katherine Taynor, of West Toledo, told The Blade in 2016 that a Stage 3 Alzheimer's disease diagnosis from Ms. Jenkins compelled her husband Gary, to kill himself. 

“He went into a depression,” said Mrs. Taynor, who was similarly diagnosed by the pair with early onset Alzheimer’s. “He felt like he was going to become a burden. He didn't know how he was going to take care of his wife, who also was diagnosed.”

On Jan. 25, 2016, Mr. Taynor went out to his garage and shot himself in the head.

Months later dozens of former patients learned that they had been misdiagnosed and that Ms. Jenkins was neither a doctor nor a psychologist. 

In 2017, Mrs. Taynor and more than 60 other plaintiffs filed a complaint in Lucas County Common Pleas Court.

Attorney David Zoll, who represented Mrs. Taynor, said patients who sought lawsuits against the couple and the clinic resolved those cases out of court.

Mr. Zoll could not be reached Thursday. Sandusky attorney Michael Murphy, who has represented Dr. Jenkins and his wife, did not respond to The Blade’s request for comment. 

In a 2017 lawsuit, patient Carol Vasko sued The Toledo Clinic, the couple, and 13 other doctors involved with the clinic, accusing the Toledo Clinic of advertising cognitive services of Ms. Jenkins despite her holding no qualifications to do so. 

According to court documents, Ms. Vasko was a patient of Ms. Jenkins after being referred by her physician. The records say Ms. Vasko received neuropsychological testing from Ms. Jenkins, who diagnosed her with Alzheimer’s disease. 

But a second opinion concluded that Ms. Vasko had neither dementia nor Alzheimer’s disease. 

“Sherry-Ann Jenkins has prescribed treatments for cognitive dysfunction that lack empirical support and are of dubious value, and did so for plaintiff,” Ms. Vasko’s lawyer Robert Scott argued in court filings.

Attorneys for Toledo Clinic denied any wrongdoing in their response to the lawsuit. The case remained in Lucas County Common Pleas Court until the parties stipulated in September, 2018, that the defendants in the suit should be dismissed, court records show. It’s not clear what other — if any —  stipulations were reached by the parties.

Michael D’Eramo, chief administrative officer of The Toledo Clinic, said the clinic is no longer associated with Dr. Jenkins and his wife and declined further comment.

In another case, patient Don Tanner in 2017 said that Ms. Jenkins gave him a “death sentence,” when he was misdiagnosed with Alzheimer’s following a severe brain injury. Mr. Tanner said he contemplated suicide at the time, but then after the Jenkinses’ clinic closed, a different doctor told him he did not have Alzheimer’s. 

Blade news services contributed to this report

First Published May 22, 2020, 12:47 a.m.

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