Dr. Sudipt Deshmukh, a former physician at Rochester Regional Health, has been acquitted of manslaughter and other charges related to accusations of overprescribing opioids to a patient who later fatally overdosed.
The New York State Attorney General’s Office indicted Deshmukh in 2021 on several charges including manslaughter, reckless endangerment, criminal sale of a prescription of a controlled substance, and health care fraud. Attorney General Letitia James stated that witnesses testified about a worrying pattern of Deshmukh neglecting physical examinations for patients showing clear signs of addiction.
A judge ruled on Friday that the 58-year-old internist was not guilty on all counts. Joe Damelio, Deshmukh’s defense attorney, argued that the allegations against his client were unfounded.
Damelio attributed the not-guilty verdict partly to the comprehensive examination of thousands of pages of medical records. He stated that the defense’s expert witness had urged the court to consider these records holistically rather than focusing on specific incidents. Despite the legal proceedings, Deshmukh still retains his medical license, according to Damelio.
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