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The state has permanently suspended the license of a doctor who was accused of improperly performing invasive cosmetic surgeries, including non-surgical penile and breast enhancement procedures at dozens of offices in New Jersey and neighboring states, officials said. Dr. Muhammad A.
Mirza, a board-certified internist from Cedar Grove, has not practiced medicine in New Jersey since his license was temporarily suspended in 2021 amid these allegations, according to a statement from the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office. “The revocation of this doctor’s medical license sends a clear message that we will not allow doctors to take advantage of patients’ desires to look and feel better about themselves by subjecting them to medically inappropriate procedures that expose them to the risk of grave harm and permanent disfigurement,” New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said in a statement.
“Public safety demands that cosmetic procedures be performed in a safe and appropriate manner by properly trained professionals who put patient health and safety above all else. Professionals who deviate from these standards face serious consequences.” The Enforcement Bureau of the Division of Consumer Affairs opened an investigation into Mirza and Mirza Aesthetics in April 2021, after the State Board of Medical Examiners received numerous consumer complaints about the doctor and his practice of aesthetic medicine, the office said.
Mirza advertised and performed a variety of costly and invasive cosmetic enhancement services through his “Mirza Aesthetics” practice, which he operated primarily from rental spaces in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania, investigators said. Traveling from office to office, carrying medical products in duffle bags, Mirza allegedly saw up to 30 patients daily in makeshift spaces where he failed to observe proper protocols for medical record keeping, patient follow-ups, and storage of medical supplies – including products that required refrigeration and strict temperature control, officials said. The state alleged that Mirza’s improper use of certain dermal fillers for off-label purposes “poses a clear and imminent danger to the public.
” In one case, he used an injectable dermal filler in a nonsurgical penile enhancement procedure that caused permanent harm to a patient, authorities said. The man suffered complications that required his hospitalization, where he underwent two emergency surgical interventions, the Attorney General’s Office alleged. When asked about it by an emergency room doctor, Mirza did not accurately disclose the exact filler he used, which made it harder for physicians to care for the patient, officials said.
In other situations, he used an off-label injectable dermal filler close to patients’ eyes which, if done incorrectly, could have led to loss of vision or permanent blindness, the office said. He also allegedly used an off-label filler for breast enhancement that could obscure patient’s mammogram results and another without performing skin allergy tests on patients before starting procedures. Other patient complaints included that he failed to wear a mask or surgical gloves while performing procedures, used high pressure tactics, failed to respond to post-procedure complaints and/or requests for records and performed aesthetic procedures in an area described as a small storage closet and closet area with a bench, authorities said.
In an Interim Consent Order filed with the board on October 13, 2021, Mirza, who denied the allegations against him, agreed to the temporary suspension of his license until his case was heard by an Administrative Law Judge and until further action of the board, officials said. In February 2022, Mirza’s case was transferred to the Office of Administrative Law for a hearing before the judge and, at Mirza’s request, the matter was stayed in August 2022 pending the resolution of unrelated criminal charges filed against him in federal court in June 2022. Those charges stemmed from Mirza’s alleged involvement in a multimillion-dollar healthcare fraud scheme to defraud Amtrak.
As part of this scheme, Mirza submitted fraudulent claims to health benefit plans for services not rendered or not medically necessary, investigators said. He pleaded guilty earlier this year to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, the office said. As part of his guilty plea, Mirza was sentenced to two years and two months in prison and owes $1,371,544 in restitution, officials said.
Now that his license has been permanently suspended, he is prohibited from seeking a medical license in New Jersey at any time in the future. He’s also barred from all patient contact and from rendering medical care in the state, including dispensing or issuing prescriptions for medications of any type, investigators said. He is also prohibited from entering the premises of his medical practice during business hours when patients may be present and is precluded from charging, receiving, or sharing in any fee for professional services rendered by others, authorities said.
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