HENRY COUNTY, Va. (rbs news now) — Fatade Health & Medical Center will close on April 29 after nearly two decades of serving patients in Henry County, according to a statement sent to patients Saturday and obtained by rbs news now.

The practice is operated by Ayokunle Fatade, DO, and is located at 8500 A.L. Philpott Highway, Martinsville.

In the statement, Fatade said the clinic has been under what he described as years of aggressive scrutiny by regulators and law enforcement, writing that “in the last 7 years, the Virginia Board of Medicine and the US Government Task Force, have laid siege on our practice.”

He alleged the practice endured “numerous investigations, attempted entrapments, honeypots, fake patients, money envelopes, informant employees,” and said there was even “a recording of an ex-employee’s admission of collaborating with the Board to shut down the practice,” along with “surveillance of my family” and “intimidation.”

Fatade said he chose to remain in Henry County despite the pressure because he believed he had not violated any laws.

“My answer to that is I didn’t do anything wrong or commit any illegal activities,” he wrote. “Therefore, I didn’t think I needed to run. I believed since the laws are available to all doctors, I should be okay if I followed them.”

He also cited personal and community ties as a reason for staying, telling patients, “you, my patients, are my extended family,” and adding that he felt additional barriers as a Black physician.

“Most people will not understand this, but as a black doctor, we are not often welcomed everywhere,” Fatade wrote.

In one of the most striking lines of the statement, he said, “Moreover, I am not welcomed anymore in Martinsville because I have been turned into the wicked witch of the OZ town.”

Fatade accused pharmacies of treating his patients differently because of him, saying they filled identical prescriptions from other doctors that they would not fill when written by him.

“The pharmacies have allowed other doctors to write the same exact medicine for the same patients that they will and would not fill for me,” he wrote. “They have denied bonafide healthcare to you, my patients, because of me.”

He said restrictions on his ability to practice had harmed patient care, claiming increased “morbidity and mortality” when he was not allowed to provide what he called the best possible treatment.

Fatade said the cumulative impact of the investigations and restrictions led to his decision to close the practice.

“I have lost the fight to be the best doctor I can be, and like the wicked witch, it’s time to go away before I give them any more chances to be successful at harming me; hurting you my patient’s more, staff and my family,” he wrote.

The Virginia Board of Medicine formally reprimanded Fatade in 2021 following an investigation into his prescribing of opioid pain medications to multiple patients between 2017 and 2019, according to a disciplinary order issued by the state.

According to the Board’s findings, Fatade prescribed powerful opioids including oxycodone, fentanyl and hydrocodone on a regular, long-term basis but failed to properly document medical justifications for those prescriptions. 

The Board did not suspend or revoke Fatade’s medical license but issued a formal reprimand and placed conditions on his continued practice.

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