Woman without a license treated patients with ‘life-threatening’ conditions, feds say

A woman managed to get a job as a physician’s assistant in Georgia after she was forced to forfeit her medical license and serve prison time, according to federal prosecutors.

Theresa Pickering, 55, treated patients with “life-threatening” conditions, prescribed drugs and diagnosed illnesses without a license at a family medical practice in Norcross, about 20 miles northeast of Atlanta, prosecutors said.

This came after she was released from prison in 2016 in connection with a fraud and narcotics case in Mississippi, court documents state. That case stemmed from how Pickering was caught pretending to be a doctor and practicing medicine without supervision — resulting in the loss of her physician’s assistant license in 2014, according to prosecutors.

In the current case, Pickering, of Norcross, was sentenced to two years and nine months in prison for committing healthcare fraud, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia announced in an April 18 news release.

“Pickering did not learn from her previous fraud conviction,” Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta Keri Farley said in a statement. “Instead, she chose to continue to endanger patient lives through theft and lies.”

McClatchy News contacted Pickering’s attorney for comment on April 19 and didn’t immediately receive a response.

Pickering’s lack of a medical license was revealed by one of her patients, who was injured from an antibiotics injection she received, according to a sentencing memo.

The injection gave the patient a rash “all over her body” and she filed a complaint about Pickering in August 2020, the memo says.

Prosecutors said Pickering also caused the Atlanta medical practice to submit roughly $147,000 in fraudulent insurance claims.

The woman gets hired without a license

Pickering was hired as a physician’s assistant at Greater Atlanta Family Medicine on Sept. 24, 2019, after applying for work, according to the sentencing memo.

When the COVID-19 pandemic was declared in March 2020, she was “the only person in office treating patients for the vast majority” of her time working there, the memo says.

After the pandemic hit, a doctor meant to supervise Pickering, as required under state law, came into the office less often and once every few weeks, according to the memo.

Greater Atlanta Family Medicine couldn’t immediately be reached for comment by McClatchy News on April 19.

The woman illegally treats patients, officials say

Pickering treated patients for diabetes, high cholesterol, asthma, anxiety and depression, the sentencing memo says.

She often evaluated patients for these conditions and prescribed them drugs, according to the sentencing memo.

In addition to this, she prescribed drugs for testosterone deficiency, insomnia and prescribed Phentermine, a drug meant for weight loss that potentially can cause serious side effects, the memo says.

The Georgia Composite Medical Board began investigating Pickering after her patient developed a rash after receiving an injection from her, according to the memo.

Pickering is accused of lying to the board, saying she “only performed non-clinical functions” at the practice, and asked her supervising doctor to lie about when she began work at the practice, the memo says.

She also continued lying to federal agents who interviewed her in September 2021, according to the memo.

Pickering told agents she never diagnosed patients for conditions or prescribed medications, the memo says.

Ahead of her sentencing, Pickering expressed remorse and accepted responsibility for her actions, according to a sentencing memo submitted on her behalf by her attorney.

She “is eager to resume a life of normalcy as soon as possible,” the memo says.

As part of her sentencing, Pickering was also ordered to pay $48,742 in restitution, prosecutors said.

This story was originally published April 19, 2023 at 10:57 AM with the headline "Woman without a license treated patients with ‘life-threatening’ conditions, feds say."

Julia Marnin

McClatchy DC

Julia Marnin covers courts for McClatchy News, writing about criminal and civil affairs, including cases involving policing, corrections, civil liberties, fraud, and abuses of power. As a reporter on McClatchy’s National Real-Time Team, she’s also covered the COVID-19 pandemic and a variety of other topics since joining in 2021, following a fellowship with Newsweek. Born in Biloxi, Mississippi, she was raised in South Jersey and is now based in New York State.