Exclusive: Alarming False Alzheimer’s Diagnoses Unveiled as Couple Receives Sentencing

A former director of an Ohio memory-loss clinic, accused by dozens of patients of falsely diagnosing them with Alzheimer’s disease, has been sentenced on federal fraud charges, along with her physician husband. On Tuesday, Sherry-Ann Jenkins was sentenced to nearly six years in prison, while Oliver Jenkins received a 41-month sentence. The couple, indicted in May 2020, was convicted in March on conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud, and health care fraud charges. The US Justice Department has revealed that Sherry-Ann Jenkins presented herself as a doctor and billed patients for unnecessary treatments, despite lacking any medical training or license to provide care.^[1]

The couple was indicted in May 2020 after more than 60 patients filed lawsuits against them starting in 2017. The patients alleged that Sherry-Ann Jenkins falsely diagnosed them with Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia. These wrongful diagnoses led the patients to undergo unnecessary treatments, plan for their final years, and even contemplate suicide. The patients who sued the couple and the clinic reached a resolution outside of court. It is worth noting that the majority of those diagnosed by Sherry-Ann Jenkins started seeing her after experiencing traumatic brain injuries or worsening cognitive issues.^[2]

Sherry-Ann Jenkins operated the Toledo Clinic Cognitive Center through the Toledo Clinic, a prominent medical center offering various specialties. Despite her lack of training and qualifications, she would diagnose and treat patients, order tests, and bill for treatments. Some of these treatments included memory exercises and coconut oil, which had no medical basis for treating cognitive disorders. Her husband, a former partner in the Toledo Clinic, would sign off on tests and be listed as the referring physician on bills, even though he rarely attended the clinic or saw the patients.^[3]