A former Michigan State University doctor jailed on criminal sexual conduct charges is now the subject of additional allegations, according to court filings and attorneys representing patients. The accusations involve Arpit Saxena, a former osteopathic medicine resident physician who worked at the MSU Health Care Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine Clinic in East Lansing.
Megan Bonanni of Pitt McGehee Palmer Bonanni & Rivers and Lisa Esser-Weidenfeller of Sommers Schwartz represent one Jane Doe. A Notice of Intent to Sue filed in the Michigan Court of Claims says she sought care for hip and groin pain after childbirth. Esser-Weidenfeller said Saxena groped her client's breasts, then got on the exam table with her, massaged her buttocks and thrust himself against her.
The incident described in that filing took place in January 2025. Esser-Weidenfeller said the woman, who has no medical training and was in considerable pain, spent the following year trying to make sense of what happened. In September 2026 she received a letter from the university saying Saxena had been arrested and charged, and that records showed he saw patients between July 2024 and April 2025. "I'm not crazy," Esser-Weidenfeller said her client realized after reading it.
Bonanni noted that MSU policy calls for a chaperone during sensitive examinations. Citing lessons from the Nassar case, she said abuse can occur under the guise of medical care, and that osteopathic medicine can involve sensitive exams even when the complaint, such as hip pain, does not suggest one.
Attorney Mike Nichols of Nichols Law Firm represents a second Jane Doe with similar allegations. According to a Notice of Intent to File Claim, she sought treatment for back and neck pain and visited Saxena twice. Both visits were classified as "non-sensitive examinations," so no chaperone was present when the alleged assaults occurred. Nichols said she realized she was a victim only after the story became public, and he said he was incredulous that the university faces such a case again, not even five years after Nassar.
The university says a sexual assault complaint was reported to campus police on the evening of April 3, 2025. Other campus units were notified the next morning, and a health care triage response team met at 7:00 a.m. on Monday, April 7. Saxena was removed from seeing patients that day, never returned to patient care, and was dismissed on Oct. 8, 2025. The university says four active investigations have emerged since police set up a tip line, separate from the two reports announced in September that led to criminal charges.
The Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs said state law requires reporting within 30 days of disciplinary action that changes employment status or affects clinical privileges. LARA said it received no such report from MSU during that window and had no prior complaints against Saxena. The law specifies no penalty for missing the deadline. Bonanni called the licensing database an important public resource and said the university has obligations.
Alabama regulators are also looking into the matter. Saxena held a medical license there from 2021 until it expired in 2023. A court filing on behalf of one of the Jane Does alleges he was discharged from a medical program as a result of several sexual assault allegations. E. Wilson Hunter, general counsel for the Alabama Board of Medical Examiners, said the board is reviewing Saxena's practice in the state, including whether reporting requirements were followed. The state health department issued a reminder to hospitals about those obligations on Oct. 19.
Anyone with information can reach MSU police at 844-99-MSUPD or [email protected]. The Center for Survivors offers support around the clock at 517-372-6666.
