Patients of Jacksonville psychiatrist who died weeks ago still can't get medical records

Nearly a month after a Jacksonville psychiatrist's death, his patients say they still can't get the medical records they need to refill their medications.

Many of those patients need their prescriptions to remain stable.

Former patients who come to Dr. Nikhil Nihalani’s office now are greeted by a paper sign on the door saying the office is closed.

A JEA notice on the doorknob says the power has been turned off.

“I need help. We all need help. If the state does not help us get our records, I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Juli Dykes said.

Dykes got a record from her pharmacy showing more than 40 prescriptions from Dr. Nihalani to treat her anxiety and depression, but it’s not enough.

She said doctors are refusing to refill those prescriptions without medical records directly from Nihalani’s office.

“I cannot get my records. I’ve tried so hard. Nobody helps me,” Dykes said.

Before Nihalani’s sudden death on June 1, he was one of Florida’s top prescribers of psychiatric medications for Medicaid patients.

When Action News Jax pulled up to Nihalani’s office on Monday, a family was outside trying to get answers.

They left with nothing.

When patients call the office, a recording tells them, “This office is now closed. The office will be reaching patients in the near future to let them know where they can pick up their medical records.”

“Obviously not,” Dykes said.

Florida Department of Health spokesman Brad Dalton said patients struggling to get their records should file a complaint through the agency's online complaint portal: https://www.flhealthcomplaint.gov/.

Dalton said those online complaints are confidential, so he couldn’t tell Action News Jax how many complaints the agency has gotten about Nihalani’s records.

“Somebody has got to help us get our records, and I mean now. Not next week. Not two weeks from now. Now,” Dykes said.

The FBI raided Nihalani’s office in February, but won’t disclose why.

An FBI spokesperson would not confirm whether that investigation is still going on now, after the doctor’s death.

Cox Media Group