Months after she stopped taking the weight-loss injections dispensed by Choice Restorative Medicine in McCandless, Kayleigh Mellas started to experience stroke-like symptoms, seizures and difficulty swallowing.
She was hospitalized twice, and doctors were unable to determine the cause.
Months later, Mellas learned from authorities that the weight-loss medication she’d been taking was not approved for humans. Instead, the veterinary medicine she and 55 other patients had was intended for cows with cystic ovaries.
“It has left me feeling betrayed and shaken,” Mellas told a federal judge in Pittsburgh on Wednesday. “I trusted I was receiving legitimate medical treatment.”
Mellas was the only person to read a victim impact statement in court at the sentencing for Nicole Millen.
Millen, who ran two weight loss clinics in the Pittsburgh area, pleaded guilty in November to one misdemeanor count of drug mislabeling.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge W. Scott Hardy ordered Millen, 50, of Pine to serve three years on federal probation, as well as pay $55,000 in restitution.
“Probation means you’ll be able to pay restitution,” he said. “I could have sentenced you to jail. I considered doing that.
“I was this close to doing that.”
No motive given
According to the U.S. Attorney’s office, Millen ran Choice Restorative Medicine and Renu Medical and Weight Loss in Scott.
Millen met with customers to devise a weight-loss program for them.
That program typically included dispensing Human Chorionic Gonadotropin, or HCG, bought from an Illinois retailer.
But what Millen provided, prosecutors said, was Chorulon, a veterinary medicine containing HCG, but used for cows.
The medication, labeled as “for animal use only,” and prohibited from being used by anyone other than a licensed veterinarian, had a different formulation than the hormone approved by the FDA.
Prosecutors said Millen and clinic employees would draw the Chorulon into unlabeled syringes, dilute it and label it and provide it to customers.
The government did not spell out in any court filings Millen’s motivation in ordering the veterinary medication.
Mellas told the court on Wednesday that she had been receiving chiropractic care at Choice Restorative when she was encouraged to sign up for the weight loss program through a special they were offering.
When she picked up her medication, Mellas said it was completely unmarked in a brown bag. There were no labels and no instructions, she said.
She also received an appetite suppressant and supplements.
She took the injections for three months and experienced her medical issues not long after.
“None of it made sense,” she said. “I didn’t have a clear diagnosis.”
Then Mellas was contacted by investigators, she said.
“This could be something we deal with for many years to come,” she said.
Mellas told the judge that she has lost her sense of trust and safety in dealing with her health care as a result.
‘Terrifying’ uncertainty
Hardy, the judge, said he received letters from eight victims in the case. They all touched on similar themes — including significant emotional and physical toll as well as what might be long-term consequences they face from taking an unapproved veterinary medicine.
“Living with that uncertainty is terrifying,” one person wrote.
Millen also gave a statement to the court offering her “deep and sincere regret for (her) careless actions.”
“I accept 100% responsibility for ordering a medication labeled for veterinary use,” she said. “I am most sorry to the people that trusted me.”
After the charges were filed against her, Millen lost her job and is now working as the manager of a coffee shop, her attorney, Michael Machen, told the court.
He urged the judge to give his client probation, noting she has no previous criminal record.
Millen accepted responsibility immediately and is remorseful, Machen said.
Three character letters were submitted on her behalf, Hardy said. What stood out to him, he said, were comments on her kindness, compassion and acceptance of responsibility.
Jennifer Regester, a licensed social worker, said she has worked with Millen since the fall of 2022.
“Over this time, I have come to know her character, values and capacity for insight and growth,” Regester wrote. “What stands out most clearly is Ms. Millen’s genuine remorse. This is not superficial or situational regret, but a deep and sustained reckoning with the consequences of her actions; personally, professionally and relationally.”
Hardy acknowledged that Millen lived a life of many advantages, including having a good education and good jobs.
“That’s why it’s puzzling that we’re here today,” the judge said. “The conduct is extremely disturbing.”
Hardy noted that Millen had no medical credentials or training yet held herself out to dispense medicine to her clients.
“They trusted her, and she deceived them.”