BATON ROUGE — On September 7, 2023, Dr. Loi Le broke his silence by filing a civil lawsuit against Samrat Mukherjee, a medic impersonating a doctor, and Acadian Ambulance regarding Mukherjee pretending to be a licensed physician. The lawsuit alleges that Mukherjee used Dr. Le’s NPI number to pose as a doctor while working as a medic for Acadian Ambulance.
Since Unfiltered with Kiran‘s investigation into Mukherjee’s alleged misconduct, he was arrested ahead of the lawsuit being filed. The lawsuit is based on the theories of fraud/intentional misrepresentation, negligent hiring, negligent supervision, vicarious liability/respondeat superior, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent infliction of emotional distress, invasion of privacy and unjust enrichment.
Acadian is included as a defendant for allegedly failing to conduct basic due diligence in checking Mukherjee’s credentials. The suit claims the alleged neglect allowed Mukherjee to pose as a doctor and dangerously treat patients for approximately four years.
Factual Allegations
Dr. Le’s petition lays out the factual allegations surrounding Mukherjee’s fraud and deceit. However, Dr. Le is concerned about the number of patients who were improperly/fraudulently treated by Mukherjee under Dr. Le’s NPI number while working for Acadian.
Mukherjee
In or around 2006, Dr. Le states that he met Mukherjee while they were both attending LSU for undergraduate studies, which is where they became friends and roommates. While they were rooming together, Dr. Le discovered Mukherjee never graduated LSU or any university.
Dr. Le then attended medical school at Ross University School of Medicine in Miramar, Florida. After medical school and his residency, Dr. Le started working at Ochsner (Baton Rouge) in 2019.
In or around 2015, Mukherjee began working for Acadian. Later in 2018, Mukherjee presented a fraudulent Tulane School of Medicine Doctor of Medicine degree to Acadian superiors as well as a fake “match letter.”
The suit claims Mukherjee began treating patients in 2018 while in the course and scope of his employment. The petition references several reports where Mukherjee indicated to the public that he was a resident physician.
Additionally, the lawsuit alleged Acadian presented Mukherjee to the public in a physician capacity. The petition references Acadian Ambulance AirMed’s Facebook post, on August 4, 2022, that identified Mukherjee as a “Flight Physician,” therefore serving as proof that the medic was impersonating a doctor. Numerous sources, who spoke on the basis of anonymity, also told UWK that Acadian repeatedly presented Mukherjee as a doctor to fellow Acadian staff members.
In December 2022, Dr. Le learned of Mukherjee’s fraudulent behavior, and became visibly shocked from the news. Dr. Le and his supervisor contacted Ochsner’s contact at Acadian Ambulance, Clint Braud, who confirmed that “Acadian Ambulance employed Defendant Mukherjee and to Acadian Ambulance’s knowledge, he was a physician.” (Paragraph 24 of the Petition)
On December 9, 2022, Dr. Chuck Burnell, Chief Medical Officer of Acadian Ambulance, contacted Dr. Le to inform him that Mukherjee was illegally prescribing medications using Dr. Le’s NPI number. Later, Dr. Le filed complaints to the Louisiana Department of Health Bureau of Emergency Medical Services Certification Commission, the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office, Louisiana State Medical Society, Louisiana Board of Pharmacy, the Drug Enforcement Administration and Dr. Stephen Hosea with Our Lady of the Lake.
Due to the fraudulent use of Dr. Le’s NPI number, Dr. Le reported Mukherjee’s conduct to the Pharmacy Board of Louisiana on December 15, 2022. Dr. Le was instructed to temporarily suspend taking any call-in prescriptions with his NPI Number. This inhibited his ability to practice medicine.
The petition further discusses the Louisiana Bureau of Investigation’s criminal investigation that UWK reported on.
Acadian
Dr. Le alleges that Acadian denied that it knew or consented to Mukherjee’s representation to patients, co-workers, other emergency medical providers and emergency responders that he was a physician. This denial was made in spite of Mukherjee being in possession of Acadian Ambulance badges identifying him as a physician, increasing Mukherjee’s salary upon the presentation of his fraudulent Tulane University medical degree, labeling him as a physician in a social media post, and Mukherjee identifying himself as a resident in a 2015 to Chawla during an interview.
It is believed that Acadian “failed to conduct even the most basic physician credential check from 2018 until late 2022.” Dr. Le alleges that Acadian knew or should have known that Mukherjee was representing himself to be a physician while employed at Acadian. The petition lays out how simple it is to check whether a person is a doctor by checking the Louisiana State Board of Medical examiner’s website. (Paragraphs 49-51 of the Petition)
Comment from Dr. Le’s Attorney
Dr. Le is represented by Unglesby & Crompton, LLC.
Jamie Gontarek, Attorney for Dr. Le“Acadian Ambulance failed to do a basic search on an employee who was pretending to be a doctor and treating people for four years. Had Acadian done what they were supposed to do, this wouldn’t have happened. Our client is concerned for the members of the community who were fraudulently treated by Mukherjee. Acadian sent this man to respond to the most severe medical emergencies throughout Louisiana as part of the helicopter Air Med team. We encourage anyone who thinks they may have been treated by an Acadian Ambulance employee impersonating a doctor to call our firm.”
Response from Acadian
UWK reached out to Acadian for a response to the civil lawsuit. Acadian responded with the same statement it issued when Samrat Mukherjee was arrested in July 2023. Acadian also clarified that the black badge on Mukherjee’s flight suit was not issued by Acadian. Acadian suspects that Mukherjee procured this badge from another source.
“Prior to his termination, Samrat Mukherjee was employed with Acadian Ambulance
Service as a credentialed paramedic. All employees’ credentials are checked and
verified based on their employment status. Accordingly, Mr. Mukherjee’s credentials as
a licensed paramedic were verified annually.Although, Mr. Mukherjee went to great lengths to fraudulently represent himself to his peers, his coworkers and others in the healthcare community as a physician in training/residency and sought to be recognized as such, Acadian never agreed to a change in his employment status, duties, or authority, beyond that of a licensed paramedic. At no time was Mukherjee authorized or allowed to practice as a physician, and he was never allowed to provide medical control or to act in any capacity other than as a credentialed paramedic. Our medics are trained to follow protocols to access medical direction from
the company’s approved and named medical directors, of which Mukherjee has never been listed or allowed to function as such,” said Acadian’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Charles Burnell.“To be clear, while in the course and scope of his employment with Acadian, Mr.
Mukherjee was never given the authority to perform any duties beyond the practice of a
paramedic. Any identification worn, or representation made, by Mr. Mukherjee to the
contrary was done so without the endorsement of Acadian and is yet another fraudulent
action for which he will be called to answer.”
UWK Investigations
In December 2022, UWK found that Mukherjee was fired for fraudulently asserting himself as a doctor during his tenure at Acadian Ambulance.
Madison Terrell’s disturbing account revealed how Mukherjee allegedly treated her 3-year-old daughter, Dallas. On October 20, 2022, the child suffered a skull fracture after falling off a golf cart in Grosse Tete. Mukherjee allegedly failed to provide proper medical attention, instructing the child to walk despite the severity of her injury, which medical experts believe could have caused further damage to her spine or skull.
Prior to his time at Acadian, Mukherjee had allegedly pretended to be a fourth-year medical student needing to shadow a doctor in Baton Rouge, according to credible anonymous sources.
Mukherjee shadowed a doctor at Lake After Hours Urgent Care around 2014-2015, claiming to be a medical student at Emory School of Medicine. However, Emory University School of Medicine confirmed to UWK that Mukherjee had applied to the program but was not accepted.
UWK‘s investigation uncovered Samrat Mukherjee lacked basic medical knowledge expected of a fourth-year medical student, leading to his dismissal from shadowing at the urgent care facility.
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