Who Is Neil Anand? Indian-Origin Doctor, Who Treated 9/11 Patients, Sentenced To 14 Years In Prison
Indian-American doctor Neil Anand, a 9/11 responder, has been sentenced to 14 years for opioid distribution and health care fraud in the US.
Indian-origin doctor Neil K Anand has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for orchestrating a scheme involving the illegal distribution of opioids and health care fraud conspiracies. The sentence was handed down on Sept. 23 by a US federal court.
The US Department of Justice stated that Anand, "a Pennsylvania doctor," received "168 months in prison for orchestrating conspiracies to commit health care fraud, wire fraud and unlawful distribution of controlled substances and money-laundering related offences."
He was also ordered to pay “over $2 million in restitution and over $2 million in forfeiture.”
Who Is Neil Anand?
Neil K. Anand, 48, from Pennsylvania, is a physician who once treated victims of the 9/11 attacks in New York City in 2001. He later served in the US Navy as a medical officer, according to a TOI report. Despite this background, court documents revealed that Anand conspired to submit fraudulent claims to health plans, including Medicare, the US Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Independence Blue Cross (IBC) and Anthem.
The scheme involved so-called "goody bags" of medically unnecessary prescription medications dispensed to patients through Anand’s in-house pharmacies. To induce patients to accept these medications, Anand allegedly distributed oxycodone outside the normal course of medical practice and without a legitimate medical purpose.
According to court evidence, unlicensed medical interns wrote prescriptions using blank pre-signed forms provided by Anand. The doctor prescribed a total of 20,850 oxycodone tablets for nine patients.
When investigations began, Anand reportedly concealed around $1.2 million of the illicit proceeds by transferring the money into accounts held in the names of relatives, including a minor. In April 2025, he was convicted on multiple counts, including conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud, health care fraud, money laundering, unlawful monetary transactions and conspiracy to distribute controlled substances.
Anand’s Response And Court Verdict
Anand and his family have reportedly denied the wrongdoing, saying that his compassion for patients was mischaracterised as criminal behaviour. "The law has spoken for now, but the deeper questions remain: What is healing? What is justice? Where's the line between mercy and misconduct?"Anand said, according to the TOI report.
US District Judge Chad F. Kenney, however, was quoted as saying by the publication that Anand’s actions were motivated by profit rather than patient care. "For you, their pain was your gain. You were not focused during this period on treating your patients," the judge reportedly said
Anand, who was initially charged in 2019, attracted attention on social media during his trial. As per reports, he claimed that the government employed artificial intelligence and manipulated data to prosecute him, describing it as a misuse of tools intended to help doctors.
