Indiana doctor loses license after illegal abortion and sex with patients

Indiana's attorney general announced that a Jasper County physician has been stripped of his ability to practice medicine after committing an illegal abortion and having sexual contact with patients.

Key Takeaways:

• Attorney General Todd Rokita's office began investigating Dr. Patrick Sheets after receiving months of complaints. Sheets was accused of improperly prescribing medication to patients with known addiction issues, and keeping medical records in unsecured locations.

• Additionally, Sheets allegedly had a sexual relationship with a patient, and then illegally committed an abortion, seemingly to hide the affair.

• Sheets' medical license was revoked after an eight-hour hearing, with numerous witnesses attesting to his alleged crimes.

The Details:

In a press release, AG Rokita announced the revocation of Patrick Sheets' medical license. According to the release, the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) had received complaints regarding Sheets for months, alleging that he was prescribing medication in a dangerous manner, including to known addicts. He also allegedly falsified medical records.

The investigation began in 2024; by July of 2025, he was stripped of his ability to prescribe medicine. The Jasper County Health Department had also issued a vacate order for Sheets' medical office, noting that the facility had no running water, working sewage, or electricity.

According to the OAG investigation, Sheets allowed staff to use the key fob to access controlled substances with "little to no oversight," and he continued prescribing medication to patients even after being told they were addicts and alcoholics. He also allegedly falsified medical records.

"(Sheets) failed to secure patient health-care records and allowed them to be kept in an unlocked shed and other areas that made them susceptible to breach of confidentiality," the OAG petition said. "(Sheets) asked one or more prior employees to fabricate medical records for one or more patients."

In addition to all of this, Sheets reportedly had sexual relationships with employees as well as patients, and prescribed controlled substances to those individuals. One of them, a patient, got pregnant, and Sheets committed an illegal abortion on her.

Jamie Scholl, a registered nurse who previously worked for Sheets, testified about his illicit behavior, and said she did so to stop anyone else from being harmed by him.

"He would write the diagnosis as binge eating disorder so that they would be able to get the Adderall," she said. "I know that what he was doing and having me do was wrong. Being a (licensed practical nurse), I'm not in a position to where I can use his (controlled substances fob), and I didn't want to see anyone else go through what I did."

Zoom In:

A Rensselaer woman, whose identity was kept anonymous, testified that she had been both a patient and employee of Sheets' and was working for him despite being addicted to meth. She recognized people who were also addicts getting medications from Sheets.

“My sister was still actively using, and I would go check on her, and after I would leave the office I would see (the addicts) selling their prescriptions and trying to get a new one sooner,” she said.

She also said she engaged in a sexual relationship with Sheets, which she claimed he demanded when she could not afford to pay for medical care. Her neighbor, who she said had given her meth, Suboxone and Xanax, also engaged in a relationship with Sheets, which she said could be heard through her apartment's thin walls.

She added that Sheets regularly accepted both oral sex and intercourse as forms of payment.

The Rensselaer woman eventually became pregnant, and Sheets gave her abortion pills. At the time, she was suicidal and struggling with mental health, and now says she regrets the abortion.

"I know exactly what his MO is, and I learned firsthand that he goes for people that aren't believable and addicts that are easy to be dismissive," the woman said through sobs. "Someone is going to OD or end up killing themselves. I just, regardless of whether this goes anywhere today, I know I did my part to do something, whether it benefits another or doesn't. I was able to do what I needed to do, that was right."

Why It Matters:

Abusers frequently use abortion to cover up their crimes. Live Action’s Aiding Abusers investigation revealed this, though that reality can be found beyond more than just in undercover videos; one study found that 55% of sex trafficking victims were forced into abortions, with 30% having had more than one.

Sex Abuse Cover Up at Planned Parenthood - Overview

Planned Parenthood was the most frequent abortion facility abusers visited, because, as one victim explained, “Planned Parenthood didn’t ask any questions.”

The Bottom Line:

“Vulnerable patients should not be preyed upon when seeking health care services, and the provider is expected to act in the patient’s best interests,” AG Rokita said in the press release. “Dr. Sheets’ actions violated the trust that so many of us have in our health care providers and the boundaries we expect they maintain as professionals. Our office will continue to protect Hoosiers from unsafe medical practices.”