FGM Doctors Still Licensed After Federal Prosecution
Michigan never disciplined the doctors from America’s first federal FGM case. They still practice together at a Detroit clinic.
Two physicians charged in the first federal prosecution of female genital mutilation in United States history hold active, unrestricted medical licenses issued by the State of Michigan. Dr. Jumana Nagarwala and Dr. Fakhruddin Attar now practice together at a Detroit clinic that advertises services for children and accepts Medicaid. Neither license carries any record of discipline.
State records show that Michigan’s licensing agency closed its investigation into Nagarwala before the federal case ended, never investigated Attar at all, told the press both investigations were active when its own files show they were closed, and renewed Nagarwala’s license in seven minutes. I obtained the records through more than one hundred Freedom of Information Act requests.
The federal case began when the FBI arrested Nagarwala in April 2017 and charged her with performing genital cutting on young girls at a Michigan clinic owned by Attar. Agents identified nine victims between the ages of seven and thirteen. Prosecutors estimated that as many as 100 girls may have been cut over twelve years. Attar acknowledged to agents that Nagarwala treated girls ages six to nine at his clinic after hours.
The case never reached a jury. Judge Bernard Friedman ruled the federal FGM statute unconstitutional in November 2018 and dismissed the FGM charges. The ruling addressed the law, not the physicians’ conduct. No party in the case disputed that procedures were performed on the girls. Congress repaired the statute with the STOP FGM Act of 2020, but the fix could not apply retroactively. The only disciplinary avenue left was to take the doctors’ medical licenses. However, Michigan had already closed its licensing investigations before the federal court ruling.
Michigan’s Board of Medicine wanted an investigation. Within days of the arrests, five board reviewers unanimously authorized an investigation into Nagarwala. Board reviewers authorized an investigation into Attar three days later. Dr. Peter Graham went further, writing on Attar’s file: “I approve investigation. Please also refer to Director Gaedeke for summary suspension, which I approve.” Dr. James Sondheimer wrote: “Agree with proceeding with investigation. Res ipsa loquitur.” The facts speak for themselves.
The Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA), the agency that executes the board’s decisions, never carried out the suspension. It never assigned an investigator to Attar. State records certify that “a traditional investigation was not conducted” on Attar. The doctor who owned the clinic, and who told federal agents that girls were treated there after hours, was never investigated by the state.
The Nagarwala investigation consisted of one attempted witness interview. LARA investigator Jennifer Pappas contacted Dr. Dena Nazer, a child abuse pediatrician, to arrange an interview. Two days later, federal prosecutor Sara Woodward called Pappas and blocked the interview. Pappas submitted her investigation report the same day. No further investigative activity occurred. The state never interviewed another witness.
What ended the cases was a recommendation from the Attorney General’s office. Assistant Attorney General Bridget K. Smith authored closure memos for both physicians on the same day in July 2018. The substantive content of both memos is redacted in full. LARA closed the Nagarwala investigation that September with the disposition “No Action Taken.” The federal charges were still pending. Trial was scheduled for January 2019. LARA closed the Nagarwala file two months before the FGM charges were dismissed. The Attorney General recommended closing Attar’s file four months before.
When asked, the agency told the press that closed investigations were still active. In December 2018, Medscape reported that both licenses were “active but under investigation” and that LARA “could not comment further on active investigations.” LARA’s own records show both investigations had been closed. Internal LARA emails show senior officials, including Bureau of Professional Licensing Director Cheryl Wykoff Pezon, Division Director Jon Campbell, Cynthia Rowe, and Forrest Pasanski, coordinating the agency’s response to the Medscape inquiry.
A physician who tried to raise the alarm got the same treatment. In June 2019, a board-certified anesthesiologist filed a complaint against Nagarwala, writing that she had “apparently performed over 100 surgeries without anesthesia, over the past 10 years” and that the practice “amounts to torture, for which we forbid on death row inmates.” LARA dismissed the complaint, telling the physician the concerns were “being addressed” in file COMxx-146169. That file was a criminal monitoring file with no investigative authority, opened to passively track a federal case whose FGM charges had been dismissed over a year earlier. LARA said nothing about the civil investigation file, 43-XX-146153, which it had already closed with “No Action Taken.”
Nothing in Michigan’s licensing system has checked either license since. When Nagarwala renewed her license in April 2026, she submitted her application at 12:53 PM and received her confirmation email at 1:00 PM. The renewal record contains only what she submitted and automated system emails. No complaint history check. No compliance screening. No human review. The renewal form asks about convictions, not charges or investigations, so she was not required to disclose the federal case. Her license runs through June 19, 2029.
Michigan never held a single administrative hearing on either license. The Michigan Office of Administrative Hearings and Rules, the body that adjudicates physician discipline, has zero proceedings on file for either physician.
The legislature handed the agency new authority to act. When legislators considered Senate Bill 410, which required permanent license revocation upon conviction for FGM, LARA’s official position was “No position.” The bill passed the House 105-2 and the Senate 38-0. Governor Rick Snyder signed it as part of a package of twelve anti-FGM bills. LARA used neither the authority it told the legislature it already had nor the new authority the legislature provided.
Both physicians returned to practice. In August 2022, Attar reopened his clinic under a nearly identical name at a new address in Farmington Hills. The practice kept the same phone number. The authorized official on the federal provider registry is Farida Attar, who was charged in the federal case.
Nagarwala and Attar also registered a new practice together: Livernois Primary and Urgent Care at 18254 Livernois in Detroit. Nagarwala is the founder. Attar is staff. The clinic advertises school physicals, sports physicals, camp physicals, and childhood immunizations. It accepts Medicaid, Medicare, and other taxpayer-funded insurance. Neither physician’s biography on the clinic’s website mentions the federal prosecution.
Patients encounter these physicians without knowing their history. In May 2025, a patient treated by Nagarwala at Garden City Hospital filed a complaint against her. Nothing on Nagarwala’s public license record indicates her history. The patient had no way of knowing who their doctor was.
The documents that would explain the state’s decisions remain sealed. The Attorney General’s closure memos are withheld in full under attorney-client privilege. On May 18, 2026, LARA and the Attorney General’s office each denied FOIA appeals seeking the memos, on the same day, using similar language. Both denials placed the word “appeal” in scare quotes. Neither addressed the argument that the statute requires agencies to separate privileged legal analysis from releasable factual content.
No Governor has addressed LARA’s handling of the cases. No legislator has called for an oversight hearing. The House Oversight Committee has subpoena power over LARA. It has not used it. Both licenses remain active. Both closure memos remain sealed. No one in state government has answered for either.