Andrew Patel, M.D.

Dr. Andrew Patel, M.D., is a licensed physician providing online evaluations for Emotional Support Animal (ESA) letters in more than 25 states. He graduated from Windsor University School of Medicine in 2015, where he completed his medical education and training.

Dr. Patel is committed to compassionate, patient-centered care and individualized assessments. Through online consultations, he evaluates each patient's circumstances to determine whether an ESA letter is clinically appropriate.

His goal is to make the evaluation process accessible and convenient while maintaining professional standards and providing appropriate documentation for eligible individuals seeking emotional support animal accommodations for housing.

Once your evaluation is done, Dr. Patel looks at what the therapist found. If the findings show that an emotional support animal meets a need arising from your disability, he signs your ESA letter. If they don't, no letter goes out and you aren't charged.

That review is a clinical judgment call. He doesn't simply sign off, and nothing about our process is built to approve every person who books.

He considers everything gathered in your evaluation together. Two questions matter most. Does a mental health condition significantly restrict at least one major area of your life? And does having the animal around help with a need tied to that condition?

When something is missing from the record, the right step can be to collect more information before deciding. When the findings don't back a letter, none is issued. For clients in California, his review must also honor AB 468, which calls for a clinical evaluation and a 30-day client relationship before the ESA letter goes out.

Doctors are trained to diagnose and treat illness, to take a thorough medical history and to think about how a condition plays out in someone's daily routine. To practice in any state, a physician needs a license, which means earning a degree from an accredited medical school, finishing residency and passing national licensing exams.

Applied to an ESA letter, that background helps him look carefully at how much a mental health condition shapes your life and whether the animal's presence meets a real need.

Dr. Patel also checks the clinical accuracy of what we publish on esalettertherapist.com. He makes sure mental health conditions are described correctly and with respect, that we say so plainly when the research on animals and mental health is thin or mixed, and that every relevant page is clear an ESA is no replacement for treatment.

Our editorial policy page explains where his review fits in how we research and update pages.

Every ESA letter carries the signing therapist's name, the type and number of their license, the licensing state and a date. With those details, a housing provider can confirm a licensed professional wrote it.

The Joint Statement that HUD and the Justice Department issued in 2004 permits housing providers to request reliable information explaining your need for an accommodation if the need isn't apparent, but it generally bars questions about what your disability is or how serious it is. We write letters with that balance in mind.

• The therapist's name and signature
• Their license type and number
• The state that licensed them
• The letter's date

Because of AB 468, clients in California are on a different schedule. On the day of their first evaluation they get a letter of intent, and if the findings still support it, the ESA letter follows a check-in close to day 30. The signed letter carries the license information California law calls for.

Even a physician's ESA letter can't convert an animal into an ADA service animal or give it access to public places. Guidance HUD released in May 2026 has housing providers weigh untrained ESA requests individually, so no therapist can promise that a landlord will say yes. Your state may add its own protections or requirements, California's 30-day relationship rule among them.

In a crisis, or when self-harm is on your mind, dial or text 988 to talk with the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. If it's an emergency, dial 911. An ESA letter is not emergency care.