The Iowa Board of Medicine has refused, for the third time, to license a physician who hoped to practice medicine in Iowa.

Dr. Brett Snodgrass of Hazelwood, Missouri, took the Iowa Board of Medicine to court last year, seeking legal review of a board decision in June 2023 denied him a license to practice in Iowa. The board’s decision, like one in 2021, was based on questions about Snodgrass’ moral character.

In its decision this month to again deny Snodgrass’ application for a license, the Iowa board reiterated its concerns, saying Snodgrass “has once again failed to provide sufficient evidence to carry his burden of proof to show that he has been rehabilitated.”

Snodgrass earned his medical degree in 2007, but board records indicate he has not been licensed anywhere to practice medicine.

Documents from the Missouri Administrative Hearings Commission outline the specific concerns raised by regulators there in 2013 that underlie the Iowa board’s decision.

Missouri Commission records show that Snodgrass attended medical school at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and received his MD in May 2007. During his final year of medical school, he was accepted into a residency program at Carolinas Medical Center in North Carolina.

Within months, however, he was told that he would not be accepted into the five-year general surgery residency program. According to commission records, a supervisor wrote in an evaluation of Snodgrass that he “does not have the skills to be a caregiver to people” and that he instilled “fear, rather than trust, in nurses, patients and their families.”

In 2008, Snodgrass entered UMKC’s four-year pathology residency program. By December 2010, he had been placed on a rehabilitation plan, and the interim director of the residency program, Dr. Kamanisnodgr Lankachandra, expressed concern over what she called Snodgrass’ “substandard behavior,” chronic tardiness, disheveled appearance and “complete inability to follow instructions.”

Harassment led to a criminal conviction

Snodgrass’ attorney later filed papers with Missouri licensing officials in which Snodgrass admitted to engaging in a series of acts of harassment directed at Lankachandra that resulted in a 2012 conviction on a charge of disturbing the peace.

According to the Missouri Board of Registration for the Healing Arts, Snodgrass sent as many as 500,000 e-mails to Lankachandra; created a Facebook page about Lankachandra that contained negative comments about her behavior and professionalism; used Lankachandra’s name and personal information—including loan documents and insurance records—to bombard her with mass mailings from various organizations; and posed as Lankachandra in seeking help for substance abuse issues from various drug rehabilitation facilities.

The documents also show that the Missouri board accused Snodgrass of making “harassing and threatening” phone calls to a colleague while using a fake Indian accent, and that while at Truman Medical Center, he dictated notes to transcriptionists using a fake Indian accent.

In 2013, Snodgrass allegedly posted two ads on Craigslist that included a drawing of a man resembling a terrorist with a bomb strapped to his chest. One of the ads was headed “Rice(in) a can, for sale (F— UMKC),” and the other was headed “Consultant Wanted, Laborer (meet on second floor).”

Snodgrass later told licensing officials that the ads, which attracted the attention of the FBI and resulted in increased security at the Truman Medical Center, were published to “get UKMC’s attention” so he could sort out any problems with the residency program.

In November 2013, the Missouri Division of Professional Regulation notified Snodgrass that his medical license application was denied. He subsequently applied for licenses in Connecticut and Illinois without success.

In 2020, he submitted an application for a medical license in Iowa. In July 2021, his application was rejected. Snodgrass appealed that decision, leading to a hearing in March 2022. The board ruled that if Snodgrass chose to submit to a set of evaluations, he could submit the results of the evaluations to the board, which would then consider granting him a license.

According to the board, Snodgrass later said he wanted to exclude all psychological testing from the evaluations and indicated he would only agree to competency testing by a device of his own choosing.

Last year, the board voted again to deny Snodgrass’ application for an Iowa license, citing insufficient evidence of rehabilitation. Snodgrass then sought a judicial review of that decision but within weeks dropped the case and the case was dismissed.

On November 15, the board found that there was still no evidence to suggest that Snodgrass had been rehabilitated and, for the third time, denied his application.

In its decision, the board noted that it was “aware that Dr. Snodgrass failed his psychological screening, but the results of one are not included in the record because Dr. Snodgrass had the authority to decide whether to submit one, and he does not want considered it.”