A board-certified psychiatrist gave a woman a cocktail of ketamine, MDMA, and DMT inside a Miami Beach wellness house, put her in an infrared sauna, and she never came out alive.
Story Snapshot
- Dr. Samuel Lee faces second-degree felony manslaughter charges in the February 10, 2025 death of Tina Sodhi.
- The medical examiner ruled Sodhi died from fatal dehydration caused by a drug mixture, sauna use, and a parasite cleanser Lee ordered.
- Lee called the drug combination a “heart protocol” and described the substances as a “sacred sacrament.”
- Lee’s Texas medical license was temporarily suspended and his Florida license is listed as delinquent.
What Happened Inside the Wellness House
Lee, a board-certified psychiatrist and neurologist, administered what he called a “heart protocol” to Sodhi at a Miami Beach wellness house. The cocktail contained ketamine, MDMA, and DMT — all controlled substances. Prosecutors say Lee described the drugs as a “sacred sacrament.” After receiving the mixture, Sodhi was placed inside an infrared sauna. When police arrived, Lee was performing CPR. It was too late.
The medical examiner’s ruling made the cause of death clear. Sodhi died from fatal dehydration. The combination of the three-drug cocktail, the heat of the infrared sauna, and a parasite cleanser Lee had ordered created conditions her body could not survive. Lee has pleaded not guilty to the second-degree felony manslaughter charge. The wellness center owner’s attorney called it a “tragic accident.” That framing strains credibility when a licensed doctor administers three controlled substances and then places a patient in a high-heat sauna with no emergency backup on site.
A Doctor Who Knew Better — and Did It Anyway
This is not a story about a rogue herbalist or an unlicensed healer. Lee is a trained medical professional with credentials in both psychiatry and neurology. He knew, or absolutely should have known, what combining psychoactive drugs with extreme heat does to the human body. Dehydration from stimulant-class drugs is not a mystery in medicine. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that stimulants were involved in 59% of overdose deaths between January 2021 and June 2024. The physiological risks here were not hidden.
Lee’s Texas medical license was temporarily suspended because of this case. His Florida license is currently listed as delinquent. Regulators did not wait for a jury verdict to act, and that says something. When a licensing board moves before a trial concludes, it signals the documented facts alone raised serious red flags about patient safety.
The “Sacred Sacrament” Defense Has a Real Problem
Prosecutors say Lee framed the drug combination as spiritual medicine — a “sacred sacrament” tied to alternative healing practices. Reports indicate his background includes time spent doing Amazon-based healing work involving substances like ayahuasca. That context matters, but not in the way the defense may hope. Calling an illegal drug cocktail a sacrament does not change its pharmacology. It does not reduce the heat inside a sauna. It does not replace a crash cart or a trained emergency team.
The defense has not yet put forward a public expert challenge to the medical examiner’s findings. No independent toxicology report has surfaced. No forensic rebuttal to the “fatal dehydration” ruling has appeared in the public record. A not-guilty plea is a legal right, and Lee deserves his day in court. But right now, Side B’s case is built almost entirely on silence — and silence is not a counter-argument when a woman is dead inside a sauna.
Why This Case Is Bigger Than One Doctor
The wellness industry in the United States operates in a wide regulatory gray zone. Infrared saunas, plant medicine ceremonies, and psychedelic-assisted treatments exist on a spectrum that runs from legitimate clinical research all the way to completely unmonitored private sessions. The gap between those two ends is where people get hurt. This case is a stark example of what happens when a licensed professional steps out of a clinical framework and into a setting with no accountability, no monitoring, and no safety net.
The hard question this case forces is simple: who is watching? Liability waivers do not stop a heart from stopping. A “tragic accident” framing does not explain why a neurologist thought a sauna was a safe environment for a patient dosed with three mind-altering substances. The trial ahead will fill in some gaps. But the facts already on record tell a story that is very difficult to walk back.
