Sidharth Sharma, M.D., is accused on multiple counts, each carrying a possible discipline by the Board. On the first count, Sharma is being investigated for Medical Malpractice; on the second count, it is for Failure to Maintain Proper Medical Records, while the third count charges Sharma with Continual Failure to Exercise Skill or Diligence.

Per the complaint, it is alleged the patient was treated by Dr. Sharma for an ongoing major depressive order, post-traumatic stress disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and insomnia. Sharma also later treated the patient for bipolar disorder. Sharma continued with the prescription of two different benzodiazepines – Schedule IV controlled substances by the DEA. However, the progress notes did not document any attempts to quantify or qualify the patient’s symptoms of anxiety. Further, the clinical rationale for concomitantly prescribing two Schedule IV controlled substances was not documented. Later, Dr. Sharma increased the Patient’s Xanax dosage and increased the amount of Xanax supplied from fifteen tabs per prescription to sixty tabs per prescription. The notes did not document the clinical rationale for this increase.

Around nine months after the increase in Xanax prescription, Dr. Sharma met with the patient. Despite the patient’s report of a decrease in anxiety symptoms, Sharma again increased the Xanax dosage. Again, the notes did not document the clinical rationale for this increase. Almost a year later, Dr. Sharma prescribed another medicine and did not document the rationale for prescribing three different benzodiazepines – Restoril, Xanax, and Ativan, all Schedule IV controlled substances.

The Board considers malpractice based on the above allegations and is grounds for initiating disciplinary action against Dr. Sidharth Sharma. Nevada laws define malpractices as “the failure of a physician, in treating a patient, to use the reasonable care, skill or knowledge ordinarily used under similar circumstances.”

The Board alleges that Dr. Sharma failed to use reasonable care, skill, or knowledge ordinarily used in treating patients under similar circumstances. Further, it is alleged that Sharma failed to maintain legible, accurate, and complete medical records relating to the patient’s diagnosis, treatment, and care.

Dr. Sidharth Sharma is a graduate of New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ, and completed his internship and residency at the University Medical Center, Las Vegas, Nevada,