Dr. Omeed Memar was convicted on May 10 of health care fraud by a jury in Chicago after a seven-day trial full of treatment protocols and medical jargon. Prosecutors say Memar was treating patients for actinic keratosis, a condition they did not have, and billing their health insurance.

Actinic keratosis is a rough, scaly patch on skin that develops from years of exposure to the sun. According to Mayo Clinic, a small percentage of actinic keratosis lesions can eventually become skin cancer. (Right) A moderate case of actinic keratosis.

From 2007 to 2013, according to United States Department of Justice, Dr. Memar submitted claims to multiple health insurance programs, falsely stating his treatments – using intense pulsed light (IPL) – were medically necessary to treat the skin condition. But say prosecutors, his patients did not have actinic keratosis and even if they did, IPL alone was not an effective treatment.

Memar denies this. In a motion filed in U.S. District Court on June 28, he says there was “unrebutted” evidence that his patients “had the classic symptoms of actinic keratosis” and that IPL is recognized by the international medical community as an effective treatment.

Patients who denied they had the condition, says Memar, did not know what they were talking about. One patient, for example, said she did not have actinic keratosis because her skin was not “scaly,” not understanding that in her context, scaly meant only “dry,” and that a biopsy of her skin revealed a comparable and equally serious condition, lichenoid keratosis. Another patient denied having dry skin but admitted to using a moisturizer.

Used as evidence against him were photographs of a female patient who prosecutors said did not appear to have any skin condition but Memar says that’s because the woman is wearing make-up in the photos.

He refutes doctors who testified for the prosecution, saying the testimony of Dr. E. Victor Ross (left) for example, was a “generalized critique of the treatment of actinic keratosis with IPL alone,” and that Dr. Ross had not viewed any of Dr. Memar’s patient files.

His motion details the cases of eight patients – including two retired police officers and one priest – who had actinic keratosis, caused by sun exposure, that were successfully treated by intense pulsed light.

And he says the government’s claim, in closing arguments, that he confessed to Blue Cross Blue Shield – that his treatment was for cosmetic purposes and not to prevent cancer – is false and deprived him of a fair trial.

IPL recognized as effective treatment but not the only option

Memar says five international medical journals support use of intense pulsed light alone to treat actinic keratosis. One article by doctors at the University of Florence in Italy studied 85 cases and determined that intense pulsed light minimizes side effects, time, and cost, and “can be effective and safe” for treatment of facial lesions.

A review published in the medical journal Dermatologic Surgery concluded “the available evidence strongly suggests that IPL is a useful treatment option in a variety of [skin] disorders” and though other, more-traditional therapies should also be contemplated, “in some instances, IPL may be considered a treatment of choice.”

(Right) An intense pulsed light treatment.

In 2013, Memar, who has both an M.D. and a Ph.D., met with representatives of Blue Cross Blue Shield who accused him of falsely diagnosing a patient with a pre-cancerous condition the previous year and treating the patient with intense pulsed light.

“I thought I was helping this patient by treating her pre-cancers with IPL,” wrote Memar in his blog. “The journals were getting filled with articles showing the effectiveness of this device without the downtime of other methods.”

Six months later, at 6 a.m. on July 11, 2013, his office on East Washington Street was raided by FBI agents with a search warrant. One of the agents wrote down a list of at least a few different tools Memar had to treat pre-cancers but, according to Memar, testified later that the doctor had just one tool, the intense pulsed light.

Letters to judge support Memar

The government has until July 31 to respond to the motion. In the meantime, letters in support of Memar are being sent to Judge Harry D. Leinenweber.

Leinenweber (left) is a senior federal judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, nominated by President Reagan in 1985.

“The mere thought of Dr. Memar ever suggesting an unnecessary procedure or a made-up diagnosis is so completely foreign and unfathomable that I consider it ridiculous and unbelievable on any level,” wrote one patient.

“We have always known Dr. Memar as a very respectful and intelligent doctor, and we cannot fathom that he has suggested any unnecessary procedures, or an on-purpose misdiagnosis of any patients for his own financial benefits,” wrote another.

Not all his patients support him, though. Brandon Risse says he suffered second and third-degree burns from intense pulsed light treatment performed by Memar. He told Loop North News he wanted to sue Memar but had signed a waiver of liability.

Says Risse, “I am sure hundreds of patients unfortunate enough [to] have crossed paths with this sociopath are relieved that he will no longer practice medicine and will likely do a lengthy prison sentence.”

Miscommunication with patients, says Memar, is at least partly to blame.

“In hindsight, it seems, I may not have done a good job communicating my treatment plan to [patients], since the government managed to get some of them to testify that they thought they were getting cosmetic treatments using insurance.”

He says he would never knowingly misdiagnose a patient. “This would go against the grain of everything I stand for.”

The conviction includes eight counts of health care fraud and eight counts of making false statements in a health care matter. Unless the conviction is set aside or a new trial is ordered, Memar will be sentenced on September 28. The maximum sentence is 120 years in prison.