The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced that a 69-year-old Encino physician was sentenced to two years in jail for prescribing various narcotic drugs without a legitimate medical need. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Dennis Landin sentenced Dr. Yahya Hedvat to a total of seven years, but suspended five. He ordered the Encino physician, who operated a medical clinic called “Urgent Care,” located at 18055 Ventura Blvd to surrender on Feb. 18 to begin serving his sentence.
In November, Hedvat pleaded no contest to all 11 counts contained in two cases, BA428107 and BA414896. He also admitted the allegation that he was out on bail when he continued criminal activity and a second case was filed in August. Hedvat was first charged in October 2013 with unlawfully prescribing controlled substances, including hydrocodone, suboxone and clonazepam, without a legitimate medical need in a 10-count Grand Jury indictment. After voluntarily surrendering his DEA license to prescribe controlled substances, Hedvat agreed to sell additional drugs, including Norco and Ativan, to an undercover agent with the California Medical Board on Aug. 8.
Deputy District Attorneys John Niedermann and Emily Street with the Major Narcotics Division prosecuted both cases.
Hedvat however continues to hold a California Physicians and Surgeons license although it is suspended by order of the Superior Court in the criminal cases pending against him. He is a 1972 graduate of Tabriz University located in Tabriz, East Azarbaijan Province, Iran. He was issued a license to practice in California in 2004. The only current disciplinary charges pending against him are unrelated to his convictions. The Accusation alleges “gross negligence” in the practice of medicine. Two patients are the subject of the Accusation which claims he was “was grossly negligent and incompetent in the care and treatment of a patient.” The two cases allege that he misdiagnosed both of them after failing to perform a competent physical examination, failed to keep proper chart entries of symptoms and physical complaints, and failed to properly refer them to competent care.